Swiss Perfection on the Kandahar: Odermatt Leads a Stunning Podium Sweep in Garmisch

If anyone needed reminding who rules men's downhill skiing, the Kandahar 1 course delivered the answer with emphatic clarity on Saturday. Marco Odermatt stormed to victory in the Audi FIS World Cup downhill at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, leading compatriots Alexis Monney and Stefan Rogentin to a complete Swiss sweep of the podium — only the second 1-2-3 for Switzerland this season and a result that has all but sealed Odermatt's third consecutive downhill globe.

Results — Men's Downhill, Garmisch-Partenkirchen (February 28, 2026):

1. Marco Odermatt (SUI) — 1:47.57

2. Alexis Monney (SUI) — +0.04

3. Stefan Rogentin (SUI) — +0.98

4. Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT) / Giovanni Franzoni (ITA) — +1.20 (tied)

5. Franjo von Allmen (SUI) — +1.47

Odermatt crossed the line in 1 minute 47.57 seconds, a time that left the rest of the field gasping. It was his 54th World Cup victory overall, drawing him level with the great Hermann Maier of Austria for third on the all-time men's list, and his fourth downhill win of a season that has increasingly begun to look like a coronation.

"I’m very happy, every victory is great to achieve but today probably even a little bit cooler because I can share it with two of my teammates. It was a big step for the Downhill Globe and to win a classic Downhill here, the Kandahar Downhill here in Garmisch, is amazing." said Marco Odermatt

He added “Two years we just skied the Super G from the lower start and it was very soft, the conditions but today was totally different, we could race the original Downhill track which is one of the coolest tracks in the World Cup,” Odermatt said.

“Very steep, very technical, very difficult and also the snow, for sure it was warm, it was a little bit slippery but the base of the snow was very good.

“If you want to win you have to have all parts skiing very well but I think I made the difference in the last 20, 30 seconds. I could take a lot of speed to the finish line.”

The script was almost flipped. It was Stefan Rogentin who first seized the spotlight, the 31-year-old Graubünden native storming out of the start house from bib 3 and laying down a marker that temporarily put him in the leader's chair. His aggressive attack on the upper sections set the tone and silenced early doubters. Alexis Monney then threatened to steal the whole show. The 25-year-old from Châtel-Saint-Denis was in green — ahead of Rogentin's intermediate splits — through the first four sectors, skiing with a fluency and efficiency that had the Swiss camp daring to dream of something special. Only in those final, brutal, strength-sapping lower sections did he begin to yield. Odermatt arrived and simply closed the deal in the place where champions earn their wins: at the bottom, where fatigue bites and the margins compress into hundredths.

Odermatt did not hide how much the victory meant to him. "Every victory is important," he said. "But I haven't won that many downhills yet, especially not on different slopes. To add this one on a track like Garmisch — one of the big classic races — I'm very, very happy with this victory."

Monney's consolation — if it can even be called that — is one of the thinnest margins in recent World Cup memory. Odermatt just barely edged out Monney by 0.04 seconds, with Rogentin 0.98 seconds behind in third. For Monney, the result carries extra emotional weight. He left Bormio during the Olympics in tears after a difficult race, and his near-miss here in Garmisch represents a significant bounce-back — a reminder that he belongs at the very top of this sport.

“I was not really happy about the Olympic Downhill race, I wanted a bit more, I was disappointed and at the end a bit sad,” said Monney, who ended fifth in Bormio. But I managed to put this bad energy into good energy and this slope I like it because it’s really technical.”

Rogentin's podium meanwhile was his third in World Cup downhill and came against a star-studded field, underlining once again that Switzerland's speed programme has rare depth. Stöckli, the Swiss ski brand used by both Odermatt and Monney, occupied the top two positions — a remarkable endorsement for a smaller manufacturer going up against the sport's biggest equipment houses.

“The feeling wasn’t that good. I had a bad feeling, especially on the first part. The feeling was I didn’t have enough grip, I was always a little bit straight, too direct in my opinion,” a bemused Rogentin said. “But I was pretty fast in the upper part and the rest was pretty solid.

“Garmisch is a pretty hard Downhill, one of the hardest during the season and you know when you come over here you need tension in your body and you have to be fully focused.”

The story the race produced that nobody entirely anticipated was the performance — or rather, the absence of one — from Franjo von Allmen. The reigning Olympic downhill champion, who arrived in Garmisch as Odermatt's closest challenger in the discipline standings and fresh from his gold medal at Bormio, simply could not find his rhythm. Von Allmen had costly mistakes halfway through his run and finished 1.47 seconds behind in sixth. For the 23-year-old Bernese, who had swept into the season on a wave of momentum — including back-to-back wins at Crans-Montana — it was a sobering afternoon.

The consequences for the title race are stark. Odermatt now leads von Allmen by 175 points in the season standings with two downhill races remaining. Barring something extraordinary, the downhill globe is heading back to Nidwalden.

The Italians arrived in Bavaria with reason for optimism — Giovanni Franzoni, the Olympic silver medalist from Bormio, finished fourth at 1.20 seconds, sharing the position with Austria's Vincent Kriechmayr. Franzoni, it should be noted, was racing Kandahar 1 for the very first time in his career, and a top-four finish on a notoriously demanding course under those circumstances speaks volumes about the 24-year-old's burgeoning class. Florian Schieder and the veteran Dominik Paris rounded out the Italian contingent in eighth and ninth respectively, while Kriechmayr's joint fourth was a respectable result for the Austrian team, who have been searching for consistency all season.

The Swiss juggernaut rolls on. This is a team that doesn't rely on one man — it arrives in waves. Odermatt wins, yes, but Monney pushes him to four hundredths, and Rogentin sets the early benchmark that forces everyone to raise their game. A Swiss 1-2-3 sweep on Kandahar 1 — a track that punishes hesitation and rewards strength — underscores more than individual brilliance. It reveals structure. It reveals depth

With a Super-G still to come in Garmisch on Sunday before the circuit heads to Val di Fassa and then the World Cup finals in Lillehammer, Odermatt has the look of a man who isn't done. He came out of the Olympics with a point to prove — three medals at Bormio but no downhill gold — and in the charming Bavarian valley that has hosted alpine ski racing since 1935, he delivered his answer with the kind of precision that defines great champions.

The king of downhill has returned to his throne. And he barely broke a sweat getting back there.