Marco Odermatt Wins First Alpine Ski World Cup Super-G of the Season in Copper Mountain

Following his victory in the season opener in Sölden, Marco Odermatt won the first Alpine Ski World Cup Super-G of the season in Copper Mountain today. This is his 47th World Cup victory across all disciplines, and his 90th time on the podium.

In a close race, he beat Vincent Kriechmayr by just 0.08 seconds. World Champion Raphael Haaser secured third place, finishing just 0.13 seconds behind the leader.

Defending Super-G World Cup Champion has finished in the Top 10 in each of his last 25 World Cup Super-G races, reaching the podium in 19 of them and winning 12 times during this period. This is the longest streak in Super-G World Cup history.

The 28-year-old Swiss superstar is the third man to win at least 16 World Cup Super-G World Cup races, after Hermann Maier (24) and Aksel Lund Svindal (17). Marco Odermatt has finished on the Super-G podium 26 times and is now tied with Kjetil Jansrud in third place on the all-time men's list behind Hermann Maier (38) and Aksel Lund Svindal (30).

"It was a struggle, but luckily it's one of the shortest Super-Gs. Being at almost 3000 meters and having had a cold the last few days, I was really out of breath. The light was really flat, and the course had a few bumps. But I managed a great run. I had a good plan and was able to execute it. I'm completely satisfied with my performance. I was on the line, and I skied cleanly. That's what it took today," Odermatt said.

Odermatt's triumph prevented a sound Austrian victory, relegating three Austrians, Vincent Kriechmayr, Raphael Haaser, and Stefan Babinsky, to second, third, and fourth place, respectively.

Vincent Kriechmayr claimed his 38th World Cup podium finish, his 23rd in the Super-G, and was happy with his run.

"It was a very solid run. Of course, I could have been faster here and there, but Odermatt can do that too. What bothers me more is that I lost so much time at the start. But I'm very satisfied overall with my skiing today," Kriechmayr said.

World silver medalist in Saalbach, Raphael Haaser, finished third.

"I'm really happy to start the season with a podium, but I think there is plenty of room to improve, especially at the top section, so I have to keep on working," he said.

Aleksander Aamodt Kilde was one of the athletes who attracted the most attention today. After an absence of 685 days following his terrible accident at the end of the Wengen Downhill in January 2014, he returned to the World Cup, finishing in 24th place, 1.25 seconds behind Odermatt.

"It was amazing being out and actually having a good feeling on my skis and knowing that I can push even more. It's just one or two turns I could have done a little better, but in my plan, I did really well," Kilde said.