Industry News
After two speed events followed a technical event today at Beaver Creek, with a Giant Slalom race scheduled for Sunday, December 8. The victory went to Switzerland again, after Swiss skiers dominating both the Downhill as well as the Super-G on the previous two days. However, what was surprising was the face of the victor as it was 35-year-old Thomas Tumler, who until now had never won a race in his 13 year World Cup history.
Run 1
Giant Slalom races are conducted in two runs with the combined time counting. Only the fastest 30 skiers qualify for a second run. The first run saw an unexpected face leading the field, with Switzerland’s Thomas Tumler and his time of 1:16.24 minutes as fastest man ahead of teammate Marco Odermatt, the 2023-24 Giant Slalom season title winner. Odermatt had qualified in eighth place, a surprising 1.26 seconds behind Tumler. The other top qualifiers were more familiar faces, such as Zan Kranjec, Atle Lie McGrath, and Lucas Braathen, however what was surprising is that they were lagging by more than half a second in Kranjec’s case and more than a second in McGrath’s and Braathen’s case behind the Swiss who has not been seen on a World Cup podium in more than six years.
Best U.S. American qualifier for Run 2 was River Radamus, sporting a fire-inspired hairdo which clearly saw him unleash his inner fire today. Teammate Patrick Kennedy in bib 42 qualified in 21st place. The 27-year-old has only finished once before in the top 30 at Palisades Tahoe, California, in February this year. Isaiah Nelson in bib 48 just missed out on Run 2, qualifying in 36th place, while Tommy Ford as well as Bridger Gile and Ryan Sarchett recorded a DNF.
Canada’s Erik Read and Riley Seger finished Run 1 in 35th and 48th place, respectively, thus missing out on qualifying for Run 2, while teammate Jamie Casselman recorded a DNF.
Run 2
Austria’s Raphael Haaser was first skier on Run 2 and set a combined time of 2:30.97 minutes as the benchmark for the field. He was promptly unseated by second skier, France’s Alexis Pinturault, by 0.65 seconds. Pinturault hung on his lead for ten skiers who failed to unseat the seasoned athlete, but 12th starter Italy’s Luca de Aliprandini put down a smashing performance on the Birds of Prey course, snatching the lead by a whole second. Ultimately it was eighth place efor the 34-year-old Italian, who only has had one career podium to his name. Maybe it was the day for “the oldies” to shine today on Birds of Prey?
River Radamus was 17th skier on Run 2 and de Aliprandini was still hanging on to his lead. Radamus was looking at home on the course and skied with confidence, taking the lead from Luca De Aliprandini straight out of the gate. Despite a minor mistake on the mid-section, which caused him to drift across to make a gate, Radamus managed to hang on to his lead and snared the victory by a narrow 0.03 seconds. The homecrowd loved it and cheered for their local hero with the fiery hair-style. The subsequent four skiers failed to snatch the lead from Radamus and the 26-year-old skier loved it. Austria’s Stefan Brennstein was close but a mistake on the mid-section cost him the lead. He was visibly frustrated, but bowed to Radamus in the leader seat, who ultimately finished in seventh place.
Then however, came the strong Norwegians, who have been dominant in the technical disciplines for the last few years. Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen as 22nd skier put down a fantastic run and smashed Radamus’ time by a massive 0.64 seconds. Next up was Marco Odermatt who had won yesterday in the Super-G and had come second in the Downhill. Giant Slalom is his strongest discipline but to everyone’s shock, the Swiss skier picked the line wrong and missed a gate. It is the second time this season the all-rounder has failed to put two clean runs together, after recording a DNF at the season opener in Sölden, Austria, in October this year.
24th skier—or seventh-fastest from Run 1–Filip Zubcic continued the fight for the top ranks, skiing into second place between Kristoffersen and Radamus with a strong seond run, relegating the local favorite down a rank. After Norway’s Alecxander Steen Olsen and Switzerland’s Loic Meillard were unable to beat those times (after Meillard lost his left ski pole), Kristoffersen hung on to the leader’s seat, with Zubcic in second and Radamus in third, but the fastest four skiers were yet to come.
Fourth last skier was Lucas Pinheiro Braathen and all eyes were on the Norwegian-turned-Brazilian skier. He was here to win his first podium for Brazil and he did not disappoint, extending his 0.35 second lead to 0.55 on the mid-section. Leading into the steep section he gained momentum and smashed his former teammate’s time by almost a second, snatching the lead by 0.93 seconds. That was the comeback the crowd had been waiting for and Braathen danced the Samba and basked in the cheer of the crowd in the finish area.
But next up was another Norwegian and Braathen’s best friend from the Norwegian team, Atle Lie McGrath. As third last skier he had ony a 0.06 second-lead on Braathen and he would have to fight with everything he had, but it was not enough and he could not best the Brazilian’s time, giving back 0.59 seconds on Braathen. With only two skiers left to go, it was clear that Brazil was going to celebrate the first-ever podium—the question was which position.
Slovenia’s Zan Kranjec was second last with more than half a second lead on Braathen. He quickly gave back some of that on the top section, narrowing his lead to 0.22 seconds. He maintained his speed into the mid-section but then the steep Eagle Jump section came and Kranjec could not show the agility Braathen had danced past the Giant Slalom gates with, finishing 0.46 seconds behind Braathen. McGrath was patting his former teammate on the back.
Switzerland’s Thomas Tumler was last. Tumler had 1.07 second lead on Braathen from run 1 but the million dollar question was could he hang on to it. He gave back a chunk of it on the top section but still carried a lead into the mid-section of 0.77 seconds. But the steep section was the critical part. Could it be another Swiss victory today, making it three for three and he did, by a mere 0.12 seconds. The 34-year-old Tumler snatched his first career victory after 13 years on the World Cup circuit. Braathen was not disappointed, it was instead an emotional but glorious second place for the Brazilian, who was moved to tears in the finish area. It is an incredible comeback from his year away from competitive skiing after a fall out with the Norwegian ski association.
In an interview with FIS, Tumler admitted, “I have no words at the moment. Last year when the new World Cup calendar was out and I saw Beaver Creek, I made the joke to my wife, I said ‘I will win there’. Now I am here. It’s like a dream and I need some minutes to react to the day today.”
This wraps up a fantastic weekend of men’s racing at Beaver Creek but the excitement contiues next week with the women’s Downhill and Super-G scheduled from December 14-15.
