LAND OF SLOPE AND GLORY

Odermatt is embracing pressure of Swiss role

- FROM JAMES TONEY in Milan

ROGER FEDERER once said he had it easy when compared to Marco Odermatt.

In ski-crazy Switzerland, Odermatt's quest for a slice of Olympic history in Milano Cortina has become something that borders on a national obsession.

And success may just nudge Federer down a place on the plinth of legends if he lands skiing's speed double here.

Those famously neutral Swiss can be terribly one-eyed when it comes to their ski racing.

There is quite a bit of Federer in the calculating Odermatt, who insists the bigger the pressure, the more zen he becomes.

And that is no bad thing when you are preparing to sling yourself down the fabled Stelvio at 90mph.

Odermatt starts favourite for this morning's blue-riband downhill and the super-giant slalom a few days later.