Stefan Eichberger was absolutely furious. © GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / CHRISTIAN PETERSEN

"Absolute outrage": There's a clash among the downhill stars

The wait is finally over: Beaver Creek is hosting the first downhill race of the Olympic season. The first race in the premier discipline is scheduled for Thursday on the Birds of Prey course. However, there are already some heated discussions leading up to it.

03 December 2025

From: det

Downhill training is usually not a spectacle and typically only makes the side notes in news reports. However, Tuesday's test run in Beaver Creek generated numerous headlines.

Conditions were borderline, but the training run had to go ahead somehow. For a simple reason: bad weather is forecast for Wednesday in Beaver Creek, and the downhill race on Thursday can only start if a training run has taken place beforehand.

Many interruptions and the helicopter gate

The fresh snow, but especially the fog, meant that training on Tuesday was repeatedly interrupted, and the trial run lasted around three hours. Something else also infuriated some of the ski stars: as the Austrians learned before training, no helicopter would have been available for airlift in the event of a serious fall.

Stefan Eichberger was not sparing with his criticism. © APA / EZRA SHAW

"When I heard that, it was clear to me that we couldn't hold this training session. The fact that the start was still given the go-ahead is, in my opinion, an absolute outrage," fumed downhill ace Stefan Eichberger. "It's unimaginable what would have happened if someone had been seriously injured with such poor visibility," he added.

Eichberger's teammate Vincent Kriechmayr was also far from amused. "You can't just break the regulations. There's no point in discussing safety measures. Luckily, no one was hurt. I don't even want to think about what might have happened," said the runner-up world champion.

It was all just a misunderstanding

However, as it later turned out, the Austrians' accusations were unfounded. According to several media reports, a helicopter was indeed on standby. Had an accident occurred, it could have intervened. FIS Race Director Markus Waldner explained why the ski stars in the starting gate were misinformed: "There was a miscommunication in this case. That's why I can understand why the athletes were upset."

Wie der View As reported, the situation calmed down relatively quickly. And nothing seems to stand in the way of the first downhill race on Thursday, especially since the weather forecast is good. Incidentally, should a speed race (downhill or Super-G) be cancelled in Beaver Creek, it will likely be rescheduled for Val Gardena.