Highlights from Aspen’s Super-G, as Switzerland’s Odermatt Secures Super-G Crystal Globe

Another eventful day at Aspen, CO, wraps up as the scheduled three-day World Cup race weekend in Colorado ends.

Switzerland’s Odermatt won the Super-G race, which pushed him to 640 points in the Super-G ranking. This puts Odermatt almost 200 points ahead of second-ranked Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, thus guaranteeing the Swiss the season’s Super-G Crystal Globe. The Norwegian came in 3rd place after winning the Downhill event the previous day, which meant he had clinched the 22/23 season’s Downhill Crystal Globe yesterday. 2nd place went to Germany’s Andreas Sander, who was a mere 0.05 seconds behind Odermatt. It is the German’s first ever podium at a World Cup; however, he did win Silver at the 2021 World Championships in Downhill and has come in the top 5 in the World Cup several times.

Odermatt said about winning the Super-G Crystal Globe: “Every crystal globe in our sport is the best. It shows that you’ve been the strongest athlete across the season, not just had one good day at a World Cup.” It is the first Super-G crystal globe for Odermatt after an incredible season where he won five of the seven Super-G races so far this season and finished on the podium in all seven. No other skier has ever won five World Cup Super-G races in one season. It is also Odermatt’s ninth overall season victory and 18th World Cup podium of the season, meaning he is guaranteed to win the coveted Overall Crystal Globe.

Kilde said in an interview with Swiss TV SRF, “I won’t start in Kranjska Gora. I can surely congratulate Marco on winning the big crystal globe.” Odermatt is almost 400 points ahead of Kilde in the overall standings but was reluctant to accept the congratulations. “Who knows,” the Swiss skier said, “maybe I’ll turn around in Kranjska Gora, and there’s Aleksander at the starting gate.”

Team USA put down some solid skiing, with Jared Goldberg and Erik Arvidsson tying together with Gino Caviziel from Switzerland for 14th place, less than a second behind Odermatt. Ryan Cochran-Siegle skied into 18th place, while Bryce Bennett finished in 28th and Kyle Negomir 36th.

The Men’s FIS Alpine circuit will continue March 11-12, 2023, in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, with a double Giant Slalom event before the 22/23 season ends with the Finals in Soldeu, Andorra from March 15-19, 2023. The finals are only open to the top-25 seated ski racers in each respective discipline and the Junior World Champion. This means eligible in Downhill for Team USA are Travis Ganong (12th), Ryan Cochran-Siegle (16th), and Jared Goldberg (21st), and for Alpine Canada, James Crawford (5th) and Cameron Alexander (24th). Eligible in Super-G for Team USA is only Ryan Cochran-Siegle (19th), while Alpine Canada has James Crawford (14th), Jeffrey Read (17th), and Brodie Seger (24th), who can compete.