Alpine skiing-Swiss Odermatt seals overall World Cup title

COURCHEVEL, France : Marco Odermatt was confirmed as the first Swiss man for 12 years to win the overall Alpine skiing World Cup title after claiming second place in the final downhill of the season on Wednesday.

While the title was all but assured anyway, his runner-up spot behind Austria's Vincent Kriechmayr at the World Cup Finals downhill in Courchevel gave him an unassailable lead in the standings ahead of Norway's Aleksander Aamodt Kilde.

The last Swiss man to win the title was Carlo Janka.

Odermatt, 24, has also won this season's giant slalom title, having also taken gold in the discipline at the Beijing Olympics where Swiss skiers enjoyed a dominant Games.

Kriechmayr edged out Odermatt by 0.34 seconds on Wednesday with Swiss Beat Feuz, the Olympic champion, in third place.

Kilde could only manage fourth place.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Christian Radnedge)