Florian Schieder was the first to push off from the starting gate in Beaver Creek. © APA / CHRISTIAN PETERSEN

Unpredictable weather and other problems during the first downhill training run

The first downhill training run of the 2025/26 season is now history. In Beaver Creek, Marco Odermatt, Dominik Paris & Co. gave a first glimpse of what could happen on the Birds of Prey course in the coming days.

02 December 2025

From: cst

The first real highlight of the season awaits the speed skiers in Beaver Creek (USA) in the coming days. The action kicks off on Tuesday on Birds of Prey, one of the most feared courses of the season. A downhill training run was on the schedule first, in which Marco Odermatt was the fastest.

The Swiss skier was four-tenths of a second faster than Brodie Seger (CAN), who finished just ahead of surprise contender Matthieu Bailet (FRA/+0,41). Daniel Hemetsberger (AUT/+0,64) and Dominik Paris (+0,81) from Ultental followed behind. Florian Schieder (9th/+1,21), who had opened the training session, was another South Tyrolean to finish in the top ten.

Snowfall and fog (here Christof Innerhofer inspecting the site) caused problems. © APA / CHRISTIAN PETERSEN

The organizers have recently been hampered by a lack of snow, which is why the lower part of the course is not complete. This year, the races will be ended approximately ten seconds before the actual finish line.

Fog and a lack of helicopters caused problems.

One drawback to the first Beaver Creek training run was the uncooperative weather. Fog in the upper section of the course repeatedly delayed the session, leading to lengthy interruptions. Nevertheless, the training was completed because the forecast for Wednesday is even worse. The downhill race is scheduled for Thursday – but this is not permitted without prior training.

It is also not permitted for a rescue helicopter not to be present. Nevertheless, this was apparently the case on Tuesday. Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr was quite angry about this, as he stated in an ORF interview: "You can't just break the rules. There's no point in discussing safety measures. Luckily, no one was hit on the head. I don't even want to think about what would have happened then."