Marco Odermatt achieves in Beaver Creek what he had previously been denied: he wins the downhill on the Birds of Prey slope. It is a victory with an announcement.
04.12.2025, 22:33
04.12.2025, 22:42
SDA
He charges out of the start house, first a few powerful pole strokes, then skate steps. Compact position. Marco Odermatt's will is unmistakable on this Thursday at almost 3,500 meters above sea level. Beat Feuz, once mentor to the world's best downhill skier for two years and now co-commentator on Swiss television, provides a fitting commentary on the picture. "We've heard from the Swiss team that he's rarely been as focused as he was after the second training session in Beaver Creek."
The fact that Odermatt often finds an extra run on day X is nothing new. Nor is winning on the Birds of Prey piste. He has already won three times at the ski resort in Colorado - in the super-G. However, he has yet to win the legendary downhill. Three years ago, Aleksander Kilde was just six hundredths of a second ahead of him, and last year it was team-mate and friend Justin Murisier who prevented his victory.
On the steep slope like on rails
Now Odermatt achieved what he had set out to do. Another tick that he can add to his not-so-long to-do list. "A downhill victory is now logically the most special thing in my career, there haven't been that many of them yet," Odermatt told SRF after the race. In fact, it was "only" the fifth downhill victory in the World Cup for the 2023 World Champion. "That's why I'm very, very satisfied today - also with the way I skied."
Odermatt skied the steep slope as only Odermatt can. Everything on the move, as if on rails, one dares to say in the certainty that nothing is set in stone in alpine skiing. The last two days he has had respect for the steep slope because he couldn't see anything there due to the bad weather. "Today the weather was perfect and I knew I might suffer a lot. I managed the steep slope perfectly."
A first even for Odermatt
With his victory in Beaver Creek, Odermatt not only closed a gap in his palmares, but also showed an impressive reaction to his zero in the giant slalom in Copper Mountain, where he was eliminated in the first run after the best intermediate time. After his third victory in the fourth race, he now leads the overall World Cup by almost 140 points.
In addition, Odermatt has achieved what even he himself had not yet managed with victories in the first giant slalom, the first super-G and the first downhill of the season. "It occurred to me yesterday that I could do it today." He says, grinning into the camera with the certainty that he has shown everyone once again.
