‘Good if it was the last’ or ‘part of our skiing tradition?’ – The great debate over the combined

ByPete Sharland

Updated 06/04/2023 at 08:07 GMT

Whether it is the mixed team event, the parallel events or the combined you can be sure skiers will always have an opinion on the events that fall outside the traditional quartet. The start to the 2023 Alpine World Ski Championships brought more drama as some skiers made their feelings known on the combined, whilst others came to its defence and said that it was part of the sport.

The combined event at the 2023 Alpine World Ski Championships has come under fire from Swiss superstar Marco Odermatt.

The 25-year-old was speaking after a difficult day personally in the event, the first race for the men of the championships.

“My opinion on this is clear: It's good if this was the last combined," said the Swiss star to Blick.

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"People have been talking about [stopping the combined] for X years and when it's like that, I don't think it hurts anyone [to abolish it]," said the 25-year-old.

Odermatt added "slalom specialists and speed specialists will not compete in a discipline in which they do not feel comfortable. It speaks for itself if such a race is only once a year."

The combined - along with the mixed team event and the parallel - fall outside of the traditional quartet of downhill, super-G, giant slalom and slalom.

A number of skiers used the combined as a training or scouting mission.

Sofia Goggia, who came into the championships with a lack of skiing under her belt, only skied the super-G run and then skipped the slalom.

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Aleksander Aamodt Kilde did the same thing, although his came about after his hand injury flared up and bothered him during the super-G run.

Odermatt also didn’t race the slalom, but that wasn’t by choice, he crashed out of the super-G with just a few gates to go.

However, he also admitted that just running the super-G run was a good scouting mission for him.

"I was able to get some important insights for Thursday," Odermatt said.

However, other skiers defended the discipline. Tuesday’s winner, Alexis Pinturault said that the combined was part of the “soul” of the sport, pointing to the overall World Cup.

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Pinturault said he is a "supporter of the combined - not because I won gold today, but because this discipline is part of our skiing tradition.

"The ability to compete in several disciplines is somehow the soul of our sport, just like the overall World Cup.

“You have to ask yourself the fundamental question: Do we want athletes who are outstanding in a single discipline. Or do we want athletes who can win different races."

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