Unlike yesterday, the weather gods were not on the men’s side and delivered wind, snow, and fog for today’s World Cup at Sölden, Austria. Due to wind on the upper part of the mountain, the race start was moved down to the reserve start a bit lower down, resulting in a slightly shorter race course. The second run was delayed due to heavy snowfall, first to 1:30 p.m. and then to 2 p.m. The visibility remained tricky in thick snowfall, but not a single runner ended with a DNF (Did Not Finish) on the second run.
In the end, it was Marco Odermatt who walked away with his third victory at Sölden and 46th World Cup victory overall. Austria’s Marco Schwarz came second, 0.24 seconds behind his Swiss rival, while the podium was rounded out by Norway’s Atle Lie McGrath.
Run 1
Stefan Brennsteiner in bib 1 set the pace for the race course with a time of 58.43 seconds. Zan Kranjeç in bib 2 could not beat that time and crossed the finish more than half a second behind the Austrian. But Marco Odermatt in bib 3 catapulted himself in the lead on Run 1 with a time of 58.18 seconds, with home favorite Marco Schwarz in bib 8 close on his heels, just 0.01 seconds behind the Swiss skier.
Lucas Braathen in bib 4 was looking strong and confident into the steep section, but the Brazilian lost his outside ski on a turn, causing him to touch his shoulder to the snow. While he managed to save the situation, it did cause him to ski too low on the following gate, resulting in him missing the subsequent gate. It was the same gate that would later trip up Austria’s Manuel Feller, Various nations’ team radios reported bumpy sections on the course, which could have tripped up those two.
USA’s River Radamus in bib 12 struggled with the bumpy course and poor visibility, crossing the finish line 1.75 seconds behind Odermatt. It was enough for a 20th position, though, which meant he was through to run 2. While Belgium’s Sam Maes put down the run of his life and showed that even with a bib 20, you can ski into the top 6, relegating Norway’s Atle Lie McGrath to seventh place.
A few skiers outside the top 30 managed to squeeze into the qualifications, including Italy’s Flavio Vitale in bib 33, who qualified in 16th place, Vincent Kriechmayr, who is a speed specialist, qualified in 23rd, France’s Alban Elezi Cannaferina qualified in 25th, Andreas Zampa in bib 45 qualified in 20th, and Erik Hystad Solberg squeezed into run 2 in 30th place.
USA’s Gile Bridger in bib 46 struggled with the poor visibility and recorded a DNF after missing a gate. Teammates Isaiah Nelson and Ryder Sarchett finished in 47th place and 39th place, respectively, thus missing out on run 2, while Cooper Pucket and Patrick Kenny joined the list of in total 13 DNFs.
Run 2
Run 2 is conducted in reverse order, with the 30th placed skier competing first and the fastest skier competing last, with the combined time counting. Norway’s Solberg set the pace for run 2 with a time of 57.99 seconds, meaning the course was faster than run 1. It gave Solberg a combined time of 1:58.62 minutes. Solberg got to enjoy the time in the leader’s seat in the finish area for two more runners, until Germany’s Fabian Gratz smashed run 2 with a time of 57.10 seconds, resulting in a combined time of 1:57.61, nearly a whole second ahead of the Norwegian. Gratz had the pleasure of enjoying the leader’s seat for five subsequent skiers until 10th starter Alex Vinatzer unseated him with a combined time of 1:57.05.
Radamus battled his way down, trying to unseat the Italian, but could not quite get his rhythm together and finished 0.87 seconds behind Vinatzer in what was ultimately 21st place for the American. Radamus shook his head in the finish; it was not the first race he had hoped for, but conditions were fairly soft, which did not suit the American today. Vinatzer, in fact, managed to hang on to the leader’s seat until defending World Champion Raphael Haaser shot into the lead by 0.33 seconds. His time in the leader’s seat, however, was not long, as France’s Thibaut Favrot etched out 0.06 seconds on the Austrian, taking the lead. Favrot’s time proved increasingly difficult to beat.
Favrot sat in the leader’s seat for another seven skiers until the seventh last skier, Atle Lie McGrath, came along and shot in the lead with a combined time of 1:56.30 minutes. It was the new benchmark, but it turned out to be harder and harder to beat as conditions deteriorated and the course became increasingly rutted. Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen, who had finished second last year, 0.01 seconds ahead of 3rd placed McGrath, finished 0.44 seconds behind his teammate. While they are teammates, the two have never been close and I swear I could see the hint of a smile on McGrath’s face—or it was the half-shaved beard that gave that illusion, a tradition the Norwegian ski racer is carrying on into the 2025-26 season. He has been honoring Gianmarco Tamberi with this tradition, who shaved half of his face for good luck before the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Swiss Tumler and Austrian Brennsteiner failed to beat McGrath’s combined time, but second-last ski racer Marco Schwarz defended Austrian honor, snatching the lead by a narrow 0.03 seconds, and the home crowd went wild. It was a podium for Schwarz, but was it another Austrian victory after yesterday’s Scheib won the women’s race? Odermatt was still to go, but many had struggled today, so anything was possible .
Odermatt shot out of the gate with incredible aggression and attacked the course. He only had 0.01-second lead on Schwarz from run 1, but the Swiss skier managed to squeeze out a lead of 0.24 seconds on the Austrian and won the race at Sölden. “Still here,” he exclaimed with a fist-pump in the finish. He had not been nervous, he admitted afterwards in the interview. To be honest, I have rarely seen anyone less excited to ski, as he was grinning from ear-to-ear in the starting gate on both runs. Odermatt was ready and excited for this season and deservedly won today. This takes Odermatt to three victories in Sölden, putting him just one win behind record holder Ted Ligety, who has won four times at the Rettenbach Glacier during his career.
The World Cup races continue for the tech skiers in three weeks at Levi Finland, with a women’s Slalom on November 15 and a men’s Slalom on November 16.
- Related: The Men’s 2025-26 FIS Alpine World Cup Calendar
- Related: The Women’s 2025-26 FIS Alpine World Cup Calendar
