Odermatt Wins Downhill In Beaver Creek For 48th World Cup victory
After two difficult training days on the shortened downhill track, the weather opened up for a beautiful Colorado day. Although brisk, the snow, stage and vibe could not have been better suited for the first downhill of the season.
Marco Odermatt (SUI/Stoeckli) added a 48th victory to his World Cup record on Thursday by winning the first Men's Downhill race of the Audi FIS World Cup season in Beaver Creek.
The two-time Downhill Crystal Globe winner was the 11th athlete to attack the Birds of Prey course on Thursday and overtook race leader Ryan Cochran-Siegle (USA/Head) with a winning time of 1:29.84.
" That was just a perfect day for me. I really felt good this morning. It was two tough training runs the last two days. I didn’t really feel so comfortable the last two days skiing down the pitch, but today the light was so much better" said Marco Odermatt
Wearing bib number 4, Cochran-Siegle was in pole position with a time of 1:30.14 with minimal errors before 28-year-old Odermatt overcame a side wind to glide through the sections and finish 0.30 of a second faster.
Adrian Smiseth Sejersted (NOR/Atomic) finished third behind Cochran-Siegle with 1:30.53.
Cochran-Siegle’s second place on Thursday is the first time in more than 10 years that a U.S. skier has stepped onto the podium in Beaver Creek since Steven Nyman finished third here in 2014.
“I’ve had a lot of years trying to do this,” said Cochran-Siegle. “It’s funny, I feel like when you’re trying less hard, it actually kind of comes your way. Still learning, 33 years old and I’m still learning every day.”
“As an American kid, Birds of Prey is always such a special event," said Cochran-Siegle. "It was my second World Cup start here and first (World Cup) points, so to perform in front of this crowd is special.”
After a promising super-G race at the Stifel Copper Cup on Thanksgiving day where Cochran-Siegle was poised for a podium before a massive mistake at the bottom, the result one week later proves he is skiing at a top level. It was his top World Cup downhill result since 2021.
Sejersted’s result on Thursday is his first Downhill World Cup podium and the third top-three finish of his career from 114 World Cup starts.
“I knew I had a good chance today, and I made a good run. I just hoped it was fast (enough),” said the Norwegian. “I’m very satisfied. Beautiful day."
Thursday’s race was originally scheduled for Friday but organizers brought the race forward by one day due to forecasted inclement weather.
Odermatt admitted that training for the race was difficult due to low visibility in the days beforehand, which influenced his race plan.
"I missed the first gate there in the first training run, so I knew I had to do a little bit different. Today it was just perfect line. I skied in with big confidence, it’s how you have to do this. I skied down the pitch and tried to carry as much speed as possible into the flatter sections. It felt good." said Odermatt
Odermatt’s victory in Beaver Creek on Thursday comes after he won the Super G season-opener in Copper Mountain last week. The Swiss speed skier also won the Giant Slalom season-opener in Sölden in October, making Thursday’s victory his third season-opening win.
The 28-year-old said his latest victory gives him confidence for the rest of the season. "In the end it’s a new season, you don’t really know how the other athletes are, how good you still are. It’s a long time during summer, many things can change. You actually lose a lot of this confidence from the last season, but sure, now after winning all first races in all my three disciplines, it gives me big confidence again.'
Odermatt’s Beaver Creek win is his fifth World Cup win in the Downhill discipline after the racer secured his first Downhill victory on home snow in Wengen in 2024.
On top of his double Downhill World Cup Globe honors, Odermatt has also won the GS Globe four consecutive times and the men’s Giant Slalom at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
Fellow Swiss skier and 2025 Downhill World Champion Franjo von Allmen (SUI/Head) finished fourth on Thursday, while Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT/Head) rounded up the top five.
Last year’s Beaver Creek winner Justin Murisier (SUI/Head) finished in 21st position, one spot behind Niels Hintermann (SUI/Atomic) whose race on Thursday marked his first since the 30-year-old was diagnosed with lymph node cancer in October 2024. Hintermann was the first skier from a field of 64 to attack the Birds of Prey course on Thursday, posting a time of 1:31.63.
Famed for its difficulty and speed – especially its Golden Eagle high speed jump – the Birds of Prey course first hosted a Downhill World Cup in 1997. Thursday’s race marked the 25th edition of the Beaver Creek race. Odermatt was runner-up in Beaver Creek in 2024 and 2022.
Steven Nyman had the last American downhill podium on the track in 2014 and was in the crowd to hug Cochran-Siegle. Daron Rahlves was also present in the finish, who has four World Cup downhill podiums on Birds of Prey between 2002-05.
The other top downhiller of the Stifel U.S. Ski Team, Bryce Bennett, ended up in 28th. Bennett skied solidly but knows he has another gear and looks forward to finding that in the next races.
Sam Morse, Wiley Maple, Erik Arvidsson, Kyle Negomir and Jared Goldberg also raced and landed outside of the top 30. It was notably Arvidsson’s first race back from injury - a great step in the right direction for him.
The next Downhill World Cup will take place in St Moritz between 10 and 14 December.
