Swiss ski star Odermatt secures overall and GS World Cup titles in race won by teammate Meillard

HAFJELL, Norway (AP) — Swiss ski star Marco Odermatt didn't win the race, but he did earn two crystal globes and set a national record in Alpine skiing on Saturday.

Odermatt finished second behind teammate Loic Meillard in a World Cup giant slalom to formally lock up his fourth straight overall and GS titles.

The only remaining challenger for the overall title, Henrik Kristoffersen, needed to finish the race well ahead of Odermatt to keep his mathematical chance alive, but the Norwegian finished in 16th place.

“Yeah, it’s unbelievable, two more globes on my side,” said Odermatt, who extended his lead to 635 points over Kristoffersen in the overall standings with only five events remaining.

Clinching the title was a formality since Kristoffersen doesn’t compete in speed events, though the Norwegian would have the right to start in super-G and downhill at the World Cup finals in Sun Valley, Idaho, which begin next weekend.

The result also gave the 27-year-old Odermatt an insurmountable lead in the GS standings, where runner-up Kristoffersen is trailing by 106 points with only the season-ending race remaining.

“The big one I already felt like I had it, but the GS one was still a big fight with Henrik,” Odermatt said. “He skied so good in Kranjska Gora (two weeks ago) and my GS shape is probably not at the very, very best level like I skied last year.”

Odermatt started the season with two DNF's in giant slalom, leaving him on zero points after two races, but won three times in the course of the season.

“This GS globe has a different story. The last three years I really started well ... I wore the red (leader’s) bib from the first until the last race and was almost all season pretty clear ahead,” the Swiss standout said.

“This year I started with two zero points, so I really had to come from the back and win race by race .... To win this globe on this little bumpy road is amazing.”

Odermatt also set a Swiss record with his 87th career World Cup podium, moving him one past the previous best mark set by Pirmin Zurbriggen in 1990.

Odermatt became the sixth skier in men’s World Cup history with at least four overall titles, but only the second to win four in a row. Austrian standout Marcel Hirscher won a record eight consecutive titles in 2012-19.

It has become typical for Odermatt to lock up the overall title even before the season-ending races at the World Cup finals.

His point-advantages in the final standings only grew over the years, from leading runner-up Aleksander Aamodt Kilde by 467 and 702 points, respectively, in his first two years as overall champion, to beating Meillard by 874 points last season.

Odermatt already secured the super-G championship last week and is favorite to add the downhill title as well. Winning four globes would mean a repeat of his achievement from last season.

Ahead of the last downhill next week, Odermatt leads teammate and world champion Franjo von Allmen by 83 points. Odermatt will win the title if he finishes 15th or better, or if Von Allmen does not win the race.

“It’s definitely a different kind of skiing if you know you are super close to the globe but not done it yet,” Odermatt said. “There is no space for error, so it helps a lot to have this GS globe in the pocket and just focus now on the last one in downhill.”

Kristoffersen still has a chance to win a globe this season, as he holds a commanding 77-point lead in the slalom standings ahead of Sunday's race.

In Saturday's GS on a course set by Swiss coach Julien Vuignier, Meillard led a Swiss sweep of the podium, leading Odermatt by 0.14 seconds and third-place Thomas Tumler by 0.23.

“I think it’s the first time we do it in GS, three Swiss guys on the podium for our team," Meillard said. "So, that's something special that we are going to remember.”

Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, chasing Brazil’s first-ever top-level ski race win since his switch from the Norwegian federation this season, briefly led the race in the second run before being bumped into fourth by the Swiss trio.

American racer River Ramadus finished seventh to match his best result of the season from a giant slalom in Beaver Creek, Colorado in December.

World champion Raphael Haaser had a nasty crash when the Austrian straddled a gate, went airborne and landed on his upper back. He was attended to by medics and got up with a bloodied face before sliding down to the finish area on one ski.

AP skiing: https://apnews.com/alpine-skiing

Switzerland's Loic Meillard, center, winner of an alpine ski, men's World Cup Giant Slalom, celebrates on the podium with second-placed Switzerland's Marco Odermatt, left, and third-placed Switzerland's Thomas Tumler, in Hafjell, Norway, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Switzerland's Loic Meillard, center, winner of an alpine ski, men's World Cup Giant Slalom, celebrates with second-placed Switzerland's Marco Odermatt, left, and third-placed Switzerland's Thomas Tumler, in Hafjell, Norway, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Switzerland's Marco Odermatt celebrates on the podium after taking second place in an alpine ski, men's World Cup Giant Slalom, in Hafjell, Norway, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Switzerland's Marco Odermatt reacts at the finish area of an alpine ski, men's World Cup Giant Slalom, in Hafjell, Norway, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Switzerland's Marco Odermatt competes in an alpine ski, men's World Cup Giant Slalom, in Hafjell, Norway, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Zenoni)

Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen concentrates ahead of an alpine ski, men's World Cup Giant Slalom, in Hafjell, Norway, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Zenoni)

Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen competes in an alpine ski, men's World Cup Giant Slalom, in Hafjell, Norway, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Switzerland's Loic Meillard competes in an alpine ski, men's World Cup Giant Slalom, in Hafjell, Norway, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen concentrates ahead of an alpine ski, men's World Cup Giant Slalom, in Hafjell, Norway, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen competes in an alpine ski, men's World Cup Giant Slalom, in Hafjell, Norway, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Switzerland's Marco Odermatt competes in an alpine ski, men's World Cup Giant Slalom, in Hafjell, Norway, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Zohran Mamdani will become mayor of New York City as the clock ticks over into 2026 — but the celebrations are set to last through New Year's Day.

The Democrat's team is planning two separate swearing-in ceremonies Thursday — a small, private one with his family in an old subway station around midnight, followed by a large event in the afternoon that will include a public block party outside City Hall.

As a new mayor’s term begins immediately with the new year, it has been customary for the city's incoming leaders to hold two events. Outgoing mayor Eric Adams held his initial swearing-in at Times Square shortly after the famous ball drop, while Adams’ predecessor, Bill de Blasio, took his first oath at home in Brooklyn.

For his part, Mamdani will take his initial oath at the former City Hall subway station in Manhattan — one of the city's original stops on its subterranean transit system, known for its tiled arches and vaulted ceilings.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, a political ally and notable foe of President Donald Trump, will administer the oath of office.

The old City Hall stop was designed as the flagship station of the city's first subway line, but was decommissioned in 1945. These days, outside of occasional guided historical tours, locals can usually only catch a glimpse of it by staying on the 6 train after its last stop downtown when it turns around to head north.

In a statement, Mamdani's office said the choice to be sworn in at the station reflected his “commitment to the working people who keep our city running every day.”

“When Old City Hall Station first opened in 1904 — one of New York’s 28 original subway stations — it was a physical monument to a city that dared to be both beautiful and build great things that would transform working peoples’ lives," Mamdani said.

“That ambition need not be a memory confined only to our past, nor must it be isolated only to the tunnels beneath City Hall: it will be the purpose of the administration fortunate enough to serve New Yorkers from the building above," he said.

On Thursday afternoon, Mamdani will be sworn in again, this time by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, one of his political heroes, on the steps of City Hall in a ceremony scheduled to kick off at 1 p.m. U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, another political ally, will deliver opening remarks.

Mamdani's transition formed an inaugural committee that includes actor John Turturro, playwright Cole Escola and writer Colson Whitehead, as well as advocates, small business owners and campaign workers who the incoming mayor's office says have "provided perspective, guidance, and cultural sensibility” for the ceremony.

The public swearing-in will be accompanied by a block party along a stretch of Broadway leading up to City Hall. Mamdani's office expects thousands of people to attend and says there will be performances, music and interfaith elements.

FILE - Republican Rudolph Giuliani, right, is symbolically sworn-in as New York City Mayor by U.S. District Court Judge Michael B. Mukasey, left, during a private ceremony in New York, Friday, Dec. 31, 1993. Giuliani's wife Donna Hanover, center, stands with their children Andrew, 7, and Caroline, 4 and Giuliani's mother Helen looks on. (AP Photo/Ed Bailey, File)

FILE - New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg arrives for his second inaugural swearing in ceremony at City Hall, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2006 in New York. (Ozier Muhammad/Pool Photo via AP, File)

FILE - Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio, right, takes the oath of office administered by former President Bill Clinton, left, as de Blasio's wife, Chirlane McCray, center, holds the bible for her husband during his public inauguration ceremony at City Hall in New York, on Jan. 1, 2014. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

FILE - Eric Adams is sworn in as mayor of New York City on the stage of the New Year's Eve celebration in New York's Times Square on Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Robert Bumsted, File)

FILE - Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., left, New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, center, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., appear on stage during a rally, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa, File)