BEAVER CREEK, Colo. — Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt on Thursday won the first Audi FIS Ski men’s downhill of the season on a shortened Birds of Prey course, edging U.S. Ski Team member Ryan Cochran-Siegle by three-tenths of a second before a loud home crowd. Adrian Smiseth Sejersted of Norway finished third to round out the international podium. Some 27 nations are represented here this week. Odermatt’s winning time of 1:29.84 was about 8-10 seconds less than what the Birds of Prey course commands when it can be run full length. Low early season snow dictated a shorter track that ended well above the traditional finish line, eliminating the thrilling Red Tail jump. Odermatt, who now has 48 career victories and is the four-time reigning overall World Cup champion, was second here twice before in downhill, including in December 2024. He said the difference that set him apart Thursday was his confidence in the steepest part. “I felt like I could attack on the steep, which is a big challenge, and from there on you just have to carry on the speed,” Odermatt said.  Cochran-Siegle, who was 10th in the first super-G of the season last week at nearby Copper Mountain, brought precision to key sections of the course. The stadium din was near deafening when Cochran-Siegle skied into the finish and leader’s chair, where he sat until Odermatt came down seven skiers later, amid the mass clanging of cowbells. He called the podium finish “special.” “As an American kid growing up, Birds of Prey is such a special event,” Cochran-Siegle said. “Performing in front of the home crowd, I was just trying to ski.”  While Cochran-Siegle shined at Birds of Prey, only one other American, Bryce Bennett in 28th, 2.20 seconds back, cracked the points. Bennett was characteristically frank in describing his day as going “terribly,” and attributed some of the blame to an unsettled equipment setup. Independent racer Wiley Maple, who lives in Aspen and tied with Stifel U.S. Ski Team member Sam Morse for 47th, said this week that the Swiss team is continuing to show its strength and depth. In the 2024-25 World Cup season, Swiss men won six of the eight scheduled downhills. “The Swiss are a force, and the Austrians seem to have had a solid prep period,” Maple surmised. Cochran-Siegle marveled at Odermatt’s strong season start and continued dominance. “How do you catch him? I don’t know. I think the rest of the world is trying to figure that out,” he said. All week, Beaver Creek’s Talons course crew adapted to mercurial weather conditions, punctuated by a Wednesday storm that upended the race calendar and shuffled the downhill and super-G dates. Earlier, when snow was sparse, volunteer slip crews had to ride a shuttle from the finish arena and board two chairlifts in order to access the parts of the course that required human grooming. Wiley Maple, who has made more than three dozen runs over his lifetime on this track, said the shorter length took some getting used to but mostly because “we haven’t had anything remotely close to this length course in the prep period.” Odermatt, unsurprisingly, was positive about the conditions and the outcome. “We are very happy they did everything possible to have a race here,” he said.  “I hope we can stay here for many more years.” Organizers cautioned that further changes to the weekend calendar could ensue if another powerful storm moves through western Colorado. As it now stands, the super-G starts Friday morning at 11:15 a.m. and is using the men’s downhill foul weather start, a section called the Brink. Sunday’s giant slalom wraps up the men’s North American swing of the World Cup season, with the first run slated for a 10 a.m. start. Follow Madeleine Osberger on X, @Madski99 The post Odermatt wins, surging Cochran-Siegle takes silver on weather-shortened Birds of Prey course appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less