Swiss ski star Odermatt makes up 1st-run deficit to win 8th straight World Cup giant slalom

Swiss ski star Marco Odermatt remains close to unbeatable in giant slalom, even when he unintentionally grants his rivals a head start of nearly a second.

The Olympic champion came from far behind to win a floodlit World Cup giant slalom Tuesday and extend his winning streak in the discipline to eight races.

Odermatt was in 11th place after the first run and found himself with 0.98 seconds to make up on leader Manuel Feller following a big mistake, but he posted the fastest time by far in the second run.

Watching from the leader's box, the Swiss star puffed his cheeks each time a higher-ranked skier from the first run failed to beat his time.

"Somehow you always believe in it. It shows you should never give up, always hope for the best," Odermatt said.

WATCH | Odermatt victorious in Austria:

Feller came closest, but the Austrian lost 1.03 on Odermatt and trailed by 0.05 when he crossed the finish. Slovenia's Zan Kranjec was 0.29 behind in third.

"I know I would have been already fast in the first run, just the mistake," Odermatt said. "So, I didn't try to do something very special. I knew I had to stay on the line, always push. The snow was difficult today, so the tactic was not to go full, full, full attack. You really had to ski it clean and I managed this."

Despite losing his promising lead and coming runner-up, Feller called his sixth career GS podium "a super result." The Austrian is yet to win a race in the discipline.

It was Odermatt's eighth win of the season and 32nd overall but the first in which he improved from 11th position after the first run.

Odermatt was on the podium in each of the last 22 giant slaloms he started in, and he led after the first run in 13 of the last 15 races.

The result sent Odermatt