Bluebird skies welcomed the world’s fastest skiers Tuesday in Beaver Creek as the Birds of Prey World Cup races got underway with an opening downhill training run.
All the heavy hitters were present, along with a fresh class of podium-caliber pros. Among them were a number of Colorado skiers just happy to be spending a week back home.
“It feels amazing,” said River Radamus of Edwards after completing his first training run of the week. “It’s a special feeling, you know, you really feel like you’re on home turf here.
“The hill prep is phenomenal,” he added. “The snow is really good, it’s a little bit hard to get used to. I mean it’s grabby, it’s aggressive but it’s really smooth. I mean I ran 81 today, still phenomenal conditions, so yeah it’s going to make for some really good, really fair racing this week.”
The Ski and Snowboard Club Vail alum finished with a strong statement at the 2022 event, rocketing to a 16th-place finish in the closing super-G. He was the only American to gain points in the race. The local favorite has taken the lessons learned from his last performance and has been applying them to his progress since.
“It’s been a really good prep period. Our whole team has been skiing really strong. I feel very confident in where we are, and what we are able to do here,” he said. “There’s a chance I might race this weekend in the downhill, so I’m building up to that. In super-G I feel really good right now, I feel completely in command of what I want to do, so I’m going to try and throw one down again, you know.”
Littleton’s Kyle Negomir, another SSCV alum, has a long history with the Birds of Prey event, dating back to his days of working on the course, instead of racing on it.
“I would be up there slipping, pulling B-net, shoveling snow, doing whatever needed doing with the Ski and Snowboard Club Vail crew. My parents have worked here God knows how many years. My mom’s up there Wednesday and Thursday this week. They usually put her as a gate judge somewhere scary on the brink or something, you know, they’re like, ‘Ah she’s tough, she can handle it.’”
“It’s pretty special to be able to be at your home race and you see your parents doing inspection,” he said. “They’re on the hill working with everyone else. But it’s cool that you know there’s such a big community with the Talon crew and everyone that puts their time and energy in to help us and to help pull this race off, so I really appreciate seeing my parents as a part of that.”
And while not technically a “local” — being Mikaela Shiffrin’s boyfriend does still earn partial credit with the home crowd — Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, who had a dominant performance in last year’s races, topped Tuesday’s results by posting a 1:39.68 time, followed by Cyprien Sarrazin of France and Andreas Sander of Germany. Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt, a usual heavyweight of the event who was recently sidelined at the Copper training sessions due to back pain, posted the eleventh-best time.
Training continues Wednesday at 10:45 a.m. The Thursday training session is canceled, according to event organizers.
The World Cup men’s field is preparing for the first speed race of the season after previous speed events in Zermatt, Switzerland, were canceled due to poor weather conditions.