Speed kick-off in the USA

Odermatt as spoilsport! ÖSV trio comes up trumps

Strong performance by the ÖSV men: Vincent Kriechmayr finishes in second place.(Bild: AFP/SEAN M. HAFFEY)

Strong performance by the ÖSV men at the speed season opener in Copper Mountain! In the super-G on Thursday, only Marco Odermatt from Switzerland was the spoiler. Three Austrians finished behind the great dominator of the past few years: Vincent Kriechmayr (+0.08), Raphael Haaser (+0.13) and Stefan Babinsky (+0.39). Aleksander Aamodt Kilde's comeback was particularly emotional.

The Austrian alpine skiing men delivered an excellent result in the first speed race of the season. In the super-G at Copper Mountain, Vincent Kriechmayr was only beaten by the Swiss top favorite Marco Odermatt by 8/100 seconds. Another 5/100 behind the Upper Austrian was runner-up Raphael Haaser in third place. Stefan Babinsky finished in a thankless fourth place (+0.39 seconds), team colleague Lukas Feurstein came sixth.

It was Odermatt's second success of the season, having already won the World Cup opener in Sölden. Overall, the 28-year-old Swiss celebrated his 47th World Cup victory, his 16th in the Super-G. Kriechmayr took his 38th World Cup podium, his 23rd in the Super-G. The ÖSV athletes Daniel Hemetsberger and Marco Schwarz also collected points. Stefan Eichberger, who had started the race in second place, missed a gate in the finish and dropped out.

Successful Kilde comeback
Aleksander Aamodt Kilde celebrated his comeback after a 683-day break from racing; the Norwegian was 1.25 seconds behind the top 30 after 40 racers in front of his highly emotional partner Mikaela Shiffrin. Kilde had suffered a serious fall in the downhill in Wengen in January 2024 and had to have knee and shoulder surgery.

Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and Mikaela Shiffrin(Bild: AFP/EZRA SHAW)

Odermatt and Co. will be competing in a giant slalom on Friday (18:00/21:00). At the weekend, it's the women's turn, with a giant slalom on Saturday and a slalom on Sunday (18:00/21:00).