Industry News
An exciting first day of World Cup events at Beaver Creek, Colorado, saw Switzerland’s Justin Murisier snatch the crown from teammate and last season’s overall title winner Marco Odermatt by fractions of a second. The Birds of Prey course is hosting three days of men’s events, and today, Friday, December 6, saw the Downhill race ahead of Saturday’s Super-G and Sunday’s Giant Slalom.
Miha Hrobat in bib 1 did his bib number justice and set a fast pace of 1:40.39 minutes, proving hard to beat for numerous subsequent racers. The Slovenian had been the fastest in training, and today, his efforts were rewarded with an overall third place. It marks the first World Cup podium for Hrobat. The only ones to beat his time were the Swiss Justin Murisier, in bib 3, who won first place with a time of 1:40.04, and Marco Odermatt, the defending 2023-24 Downhill World Cup season winner in bib 8, who was 0.20 seconds behind his teammate. It was overall a very strong day for Team Switzerland, which saw a total of seven skiers finish in the top 30 that earn valuable FIS points for the season.
James Crawford defended Canada’s honor with a fourth-place finish at Beaver Creek after his teammate Cameron Alexander in bib 12 missed a gate after leaving the race line. Alexander had looked strong on the top section, skiing only 0.20 seconds behind the leader Murisier, but went too high on the mid-section, ending his bid for a Canadian podium prematurely. James Crawford, who had finished in third place in 2022, the last time the World Cup races were held at Beaver Creek after last year’s cancelation due to a snowstorm, looked strong on the top, skiing just 0.13 behind Murisier in the top section. He pushed hard and made up 0.09 and cut his lag on Murisier down to a slim 0.04 seconds, but then gave back some of the time on the mid- and bottom-section of the course, finishing just 0.51 seconds behind Murisier.
Vincent Kriechmayr from Austria rounded out the top five skiers today. The Austrian speed specialist had been fast on the top section but could not quite best the Swiss times and finished 0.65 seconds behind Murisier. Kriechmayr had been the fasted in training yesterday but could not quite get the same speed on the bottom section to take it to the podium today.
The best skier on Team USA was Bryce Bennett in bib 7, who finished the race 0.88 seconds behind Murisier, recording a new personal best sixth place. The American looked smooth on home soil, and the crowd exploded in a loud roar when he skied into what was at that time third place. Bennett’s previous personal best had been a ninth place in Saalbach, Austria, in 2021.
Teammate Ryan Cochran-Siegle finished the race in 12th place overall. Cochran-Siegle in bib 9 looked very strong on the top section, skiing just 0.20 seconds behind Murisier’s time at the top section after some powerful skating out of the gates, but lost time on the mid-section of the Birds of Prey course. Catching an edge after the Golden Eagle jump almost caused the 32-year-old to crash, but with some amazing leg strength, Cochran-Siegle managed to control his skis and pulled his legs back into parallel stance, and finished the race 1.49 seconds behind Murisier. It was a fantastic performance by the legacy skier, and he could have easily placed in the top five without the near-crash.
Also earning FIS points on home soil today was Sam Morse, who finished in a strong 21st place. He could have finished even higher had he not made two mistakes on the course. Taking out a gate on the course cost him a good half second and finished 1.78 seconds behind Murisier.Jared Goldberg and Erik Arvidsson just missed out on the top 30, finishing in 39th and 34th place respectively. Kyle Negomir finished the race in 45th place and Wiley Maple in 52nd, while Samuel Dupratt recorded a DNF.
There were some terrifying-looking crashes on the day, the worst-looking one by Arnaud Boisset from Switzerland. He had struggled with his balance several times but then crashed after the jump and hit the snow hard at full speed. It looked like the Swiss skier may have briefly lost consciousness as his body flew unarrested into the nets at nearly 130 kilometers an hour (81 miles per hour). After a prolonged interruption, Boisset was taken down in the sled. Thankfully, Swiss Ski shared that Boisset, who had just come back from injury, was conscious again and had his full cognitive facilities and even could remember parts of the race. He will have to sit out the next few races with a bad concussion, however.
France’s Matthieu Mailet caught an edge on the bottom section, a bit higher up than Boisset and flew into the nets at 130 kilometers an hour. The French skier however was able to arrest his crash a little and got up unassisted and skied down the bottom section on his boots, much to the cheer of the crowd at Beaver Creek, holding both skis in his hands. Certainly not something you see every day on a World Cup course.
The events at Beaver Creek continue tomorrow with a Super-G race.
