Marco Odermatt claimed his first victory of the new Audi FIS World Cup season as he overcame a tricky Beaver Creek course to win the men's super-G on Saturday.
On a fast course designed by Switzerland's Reto Nydegger where technical ability was tested from the outset, only two of the first seven skiers out on the course managed to complete their runs, as athlete after athlete picked the wrong line and missed gates.
While the majority of the early skiers appeared to have underestimated the speed of the course, the Swiss were unsurprisingly the early pacesetters as Gino Caviezel first set the benchmark in bib number four, before Odermatt put the disappointment of his second-place finish on day one at Beaver Creek behind him to set a time of 1:09.41 which was never bettered.
"Today was a very difficult one, it was already a little bit bumpy from the top and then you had to really ski smart from the middle section," Odermatt said.
"It was quite fast but still big turns, and also all the rolls have been quite big this year. It was difficult to ski and not easy to stay on the line."
It was Odermatt's 38th World Cup career victory, almost five years to the day from winning his first at Beaver Creek in December 2019.
"It's unbelievable, I would never have dreamed about this," he said. "It started some years ago and I hope I can continue a little but longer. Beaver Creek is always a special place for me."
Despite his pedigree, it had been a poor start to the season for Odermatt, who crashed out on the first run in the Alpine season opener at Sölden before being beaten by compatriot Justin Murisier on day one at Beaver Creek on Friday.
"For me it was a very important weekend after I didn't finish in Sölden," Odermatt said. "I needed to answer some questions and I did that."
Cyprien Sarrazin, who finished ninth in the downhill on Friday, took second place on Saturday despite a poor start where he almost came unstuck at the second turn. The Frenchman ultimately recovered to put together a solid performance on a day where no skier managed an error-free run.
"I was not that confident at the start," Sarrazin said. "I watched two guys on the TV and the only guys I watched were out.
"But I did a good inspection, so I trusted myself and I was like 'It's no big deal, just a few turns to be smart and the rest full gas'.
"I almost DNF at the second gate, and I don't know, something went out and I was like 'now it's full gas – but really full gas'."
Despite the poor start, Sarrazin said it was near the end where he lost out to his old rival Odermatt.
"I had a good line and then I let the pressure get to me because I didn't see the gate because of the shadows," he said.
"Because of that, I was too straight and then I lost two-tenths of a second I think there. That's my only regret, the rest was pretty good."
Lukas Feurstein (AUT) came third to make his first appearance on a World Cup podium, comfortably beating his previous best finish of sixth.
"I had a plan in my mind," Feurstein said of a difficult first career appearance at Beaver Creek.
"I was thinking about the line we talked about with our coaches and tried to execute that as fast as possible. I tried to risk everything because you have to if you want to be fast – and it went pretty well.
"It's a long way getting here and I struggled a lot. It's a bit surprising now, but it also feels really good."
There was a tie for fourth as young pair Giovanni Franzoni (ITA) and Fredrik Moeller (NOR) both finished six tenths of a second behind Odermatt, while veteran Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT) came in sixth and Caviezel would eventually finish seventh.
