After only one race took place in Lake Louise with the cancelation of the first Downhill and the Super-G, speed racers will move to Beaver Creek for a tight schedule of races, with a second Downhill added to the racing program of the Xfinity Birds of Prey Audi FIS Ski World Cup.
The 2021 Xfinity Birds of Prey Audi FIS Ski World Cup races will feature two Super G races and two Downhill races.
Thursday, December 2nd, Super-G / 19:45 (CET)
Friday, December 3rd, Super-G / 18:45 (CET)
Saturday, December 4th, Downhill / 19:00 (CET)
Sunday, December 5th, Downhill / 20:00 (CET)
The only training Downhill on the “Birds of Prey” will take place on Wednesday.
In 2019 Marco Odermatt claimed Beaver Creek’s Super-G, scoring his first World Cup victory. Aleksander Aamodt Kilde came second (+0.10) and Matthias Mayer third (+0.14) for a very close finish. The Swiss ace mastered the technical course, taking the right amount of risk without compromising the speed of his run.
Snowy conditions marked the 2018 Super-G at Beaver Creek. Austria’s Max Franz charged his way to his second victory in seven days after also winning the Downhill in Lake Louise, Canada. Switzerland’s Mauro Caviezel finished in second place, 0.33 seconds back. The story of the day, however, was a rarely seen three-way tie for third place between Italy’s Dominik Paris and Norwegians Aksel Lund Svindal and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, who each finished 0.41 seconds behind Franz for a total of five racers on the podium.
In 2019, due to strong wind in the top section, the Beaver Creek Downhill start was lowered and cut out the top flat section, shortening the course by about 30 seconds. The shortened course saw Switzerland's Beat Feuz take his second Birds of Prey Downhill in a row. Feuz beat Vincent Kriechmayr and Johan Clarey both in joint second place 0.41 seconds behind.
In 2018, after being second in the Downhills of 2011, 2014, and 2017, the infamous Birds of Prey Downhill racecourse saw Switzerland's Beat Feuz take his first victory in Beaver Creek by a very small margin over his fellow countryman Mauro Caviezel (+0.07) and Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal (+0.08).
Feuz was able to lay down the fastest time, carrying the speed from the steep sections all the way down to the finish line.
Beat Feuz has equaled on Saturday in Lake Louise the Men's record for most World Cup podiums in the Downhill, joining Franz Klammer and Peter Müller with 41. "This is a career milestone", a happy Feuz said.
It can be assumed that Feuz will snatch this record in Beaver Creek after being on the podium here five times. The Emmentaler has been the best and, above all, the most constant downhill skier in the World Cup for years. He has won the Downhill Crystal Globe in each of the last four World Cup seasons. He became the second male skier to win four successive Downhill titles, after Franz Klammer from 1974-1975 to 1977-1978.
Feuz can become the third man to win a specific crystal globe in at least five successive seasons, after Marcel Hirscher (8 in Overall, 5 in Giant Slalom) and Ingemar Stenmark (7 in Giant Slalom, 7 in Slalom). Only Klammer (5) and Didier Cuche (4) have won the men's Downhill globe as many times as Feuz (4).
Feuz won the two most recent World Cup downhill events held in Beaver Creek. Only Aksel Lund Svindal (4), Bode Miller (3), and Hermann Maier (3) have claimed more than two World Cup Downhill wins in Beaver Creek. Feuz achieved five Downhill podiums in Beaver Creek, equal to Stephan Eberharter (5). Only Svindal (7) has claimed more World Cup Downhill podiums in the US ski resort.
Vincent Kriechmayr won the Super-G crystal globe in the 2020/21 World Cup, after having recorded a second place in this standings in each of the previous three seasons.
He is the first Austrian man to win the Super-G crystal globe since Hannes Reichelt in 2007-2008.
Kriechmayr can become the third Austrian man to win the Super-G globe in successive seasons, after Hermann Maier (4 in a row, 1997-1998 to 2000-2001) and Stephan Eberharter (2001-2002 and 2002-2003).
Kriechmayr finished on the podium in each of the last four Super-G events in the World Cup. The last man to claim five successive World Cup podiums in Super-G events was Dominik Paris from December 2018 to December 2019. If Kriechmayr claim a podium finish in both super-G events scheduled in Beaver Creek, he would be the first man to achieve six consecutive World Cup podiums in this discipline since Aksel Lund Svindal from November 2012 to December 2013.
Kriechmayr completed the speed double at the 2021 World Championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo. He became the third male skier to achieve this after Hermann Maier (1999) and Bode Miller (2005).
He finished in second place in the last Downhill in Lake Louise on Saturday.
He won the Super-G in the Birds of Prey racecourse back in 2017. It was his first ever race win in the World Cup.
Austria's last World Cup Downhill win in Beaver Creek was celebrated by Michael Walchhofer on 30 November 2007.
Aleksander Aamodt Kilde won the Super-G Globe in 2015-2016 and the overall standings in 2019-2020. Kilde missed most of the 2020-2021 World Cup season after suffering a knee injury in training in January 2021.
He could join Lasse Kjus (1995-1996, 1998-1999) and Aksel Lund Svindal (2006-2007, 2008-2009) as the only Norwegian men to win the Overall Globe multiple times.
Kilde has won six World Cup events, three in the Super-G and three in the Downhill.
Since the start of 2018, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde is the only Norwegian man to have won a World Cup Downhill event: Val Gardena on 15 December 2018 and on 19 December 2020.
Dominik Paris is hoping to become the second Italian man to win the Downhill crystal globe, after Peter Fill (2015-2016, 2016-2017). Paris has already claimed the Super-G crystal globe, in 2018-2019.
Paris has claimed 15 World Cup victories in the Downhill, ranking him in joint-fourth place alongside Franz Heinzer and Hermann Maier (both 15). Stephan Eberharter (18) is in third place. Franz Klammer still holds the victory record for World Cup Downhill races. He won 25 World Cup Downhills, including four on the Hahnenkamm at Kitzbühel, including a string of three consecutive victories (1975, 1976, 1977), and four in Wengen. He won a total of 5 World Cup Downhill crystal globes (1975-78, and 1983).
He was only once on the podium in Beaver Creek when he finished in third place in the Super-G in 2018.
The winner of the last Downhill, Matthias Mayer has never been on the Downhill podium in Beaver Creek, his best was 9th place in 2014. He finished in third place in the Super-G in 2019. The most recent man to win the first two World Cup Downhill races of a season was Aksel Lund Svindal, who won the first three in 2015-2016 (Lake Louise, Beaver Creek, Val Gardena).
Mayer finished on the podium in each of his last six World Cup Downhill appearances. This run began with his victory in Bormio on 30 December 2020. He is the first Austrian man to claim six successive top-three finishes in World Cup Downhill races since Stephan Eberharter, who set a run of eight in 2003-2004.
Mayer finished second in the Downhill and third in the Super-G standings in the World Cup last season.
He has yet to win his first crystal globe. The most recent Austrian man to win the Downhill crystal globe was Klaus Kröll in 2011-2012.
Marco Odermatt finished second in last season's Super-G standings. He won the final World Cup Super-G race of the season, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm on 7 March.
He finished in fourth place in the last Downhill in Lake Louise.
Odermatt can become the third Swiss man to win back-to-back Super-G events in the World Cup, after Pirmin Zurbriggen (twice, in 1984 and 1990) and Paul Accola (1992).
The most recent occasion Switzerland claimed successive World Cup wins in the Super-G was from December 2011 to February 2012 (wins by Sandro Viletta, Beat Feuz, and Didier Cuche).
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