Who to watch? Beaver Creek Men's Alpine Ski World Cup Downhill

Marco Odermatt. Picture: Erich Spiess / Red Bull Content Pool

The 2025–26 Men's FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Downhill season will begin at the formidable Birds of Prey racecourse in Beaver Creek, widely regarded as one of the most technically demanding tracks in the world.

Beaver Creek (USA)

December 4th Downhill / Men 11:00 LOC / 19:00 CET

Due to the weather forecast for the upcoming days, the Men's Downhill has been moved forward to Thursday, 4 December, to maximize the chances of delivering a successful race.

Last season, the speed season kicked off at the Birds of Prey racetrack with a big surprise in store. Justin Murisier secured his first Alpine Ski World Cup victory by winning the World Cup Downhill at Beaver Creek. Starting with bib number 3, Murisier skied a very solid run from top to bottom with hardly any mistakes. The 33-year-old Swiss skier previously achieved his only podium finish in the Giant Slalom in Alta Badia in 2020. His best Downhill result was 4th place in Bormio in the 2023-2024 winter season. Marco Odermatt came second, and Miha Hrobat of Slovenia finished third.

Last season, Marco Odermatt won the Men’s Downhill Alpine Ski World Cup Crystal Globe for the second time.

The last Swiss skier to win the Downhill Crystal Globe before Odermatt was Beat Feuz, who won four between 2017-2018 and 2020-2021.

Odermatt added the Downhill World Cup title to his Overall, Super-G, and Giant Slalom Globes. He has won four Crystal Globes for the second consecutive season. The last man to win at least four World Cup Crystal Globes in a single season was Hermann Maier in 1999-2000 and 2001-2001 (Overall, Downhill, Giant Slalom, and Super-G in both seasons).

The only Swiss man other than Odermatt to win at least four World Cup classifications in a single season was Pirmin Zurbriggen in 1986-1987. He won the Overall, Combination, Super-G, Downhill, and Giant Slalom titles.

With 13 Globes, Marco Odermatt has become the fourth most successful men's skier of all time. Marcel Hirscher, with 20, leads the way, Ingemar Stenmark is second with 18, and Hermann Maier is fourth with 14.

If Odermatt wins his third Downhill Crystal Globe this season, he will become the first skier to win three or more Globes in three out of the four Alpine disciplines.

During last season, the 28-year-old Swiss ski champion secured a podium finish in Downhill six times out of eight races, achieving victories in Val Gardena and Wengen.

The 2023 World Cup Finals in Soldeu was the last time Odermatt finished outside the top 14 in a World Cup race (he came 15th that day). In the 16 World Cup Downhills since then, Odermatt has won four times and claimed an additional eight podium finishes.

Marco Odermatt won the Downhill title with a total of 605 points. Teammates Franjo Von Allmen (522) and Alexis Monney (327) finished in second and third place in the Downhill standings.

Switzerland dominated the Men's Downhill, securing 17 of the 24 available podium places. Odermatt and his teammates won six of the eight Downhill races last season. In the first four races, Swiss skiers claimed the top two positions. In Crans-Montana and at the second Downhill event held in Kvitfjell, they achieved a clean sweep of the podium.

In his breakout Downhill Alpine Ski World Cup season, Franjo Von Allmen had two wins and a total of five podiums in eight races, which saw him claim the runners-up spot in the Downhill Crystal Globe race. Von Allmen also won the 2025 Downhill World Championship gold in Saalbach. He is chasing an eighth consecutive World Cup Downhill Top-10 finish. His current streak, which began in Val Gardena in December 2024, is his longest to date.

Last season, Alexis Monney recorded his first career World Cup win in the Downhill event in Bormio, as well as his first career World Cup podiums: second place in Kitzbühel and third place in Crans Montana. He also secured two podium finishes in the Super-G, achieving second place in Crans Montana and third place in Bormio.

Switzerland could become the first nation to sweep the Men's World Cup Downhill standings twice. Austria was the first nation to achieve the feat, back in the 2000-2001 winter season, when Hermann Maier, Stephan Eberharter, and Fritz Strobl finished first, second, and third.

Last season, Vincent Kriechmayr finished in 11th in the Downhill standings. The Austrian has not finished outside the Top-10 in the season standings since the 2016-2017 winter season. The Austrian, who won Downhill silver at the 2025 World Championships in Saalbach, has a best result of 4th in a Downhill World Cup last season. The last time he failed to claim at least one Downhill podium finish in a season was back in 2016-2017.

Vincent Kriechmayr has claimed nine World Cup victories in both the Super-G and Downhill events. If he wins one more race in each discipline, he will become the 11th man to achieve the 'double-double' of 10+ wins in two disciplines. After Hermann Maier (24 Super-G, 15 Downhill), Aksel Lund Svindal (17 Super-G, 14 Downhill), and Pirmin Zurbriggen (10 Super-G, 10 Downhill), he would become the fourth man to achieve the 'speed double-double'.

Austria's Downhill skiers are aiming for their first Alpine Ski World Cup Downhill victory since Vincent Kriechmayr won the final race of the season in Soldeu in March 2023.

Since 2007 Michael Walchhofer's victory, the Austrians have been waiting for a Downhill win on the Birds of Prey.

The Austrian speed team proved their excellent form in the Super-G at Copper Mountain. 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.

If Dominik Paris wins in Beaver Creek, he will claim second place on his own in the all-time Men’s Downhill World Cup winners list. Currently, Paris is tied with Peter Müller on 19 World Cup victories. Franz Klammer is in first place with 25 wins.

The Italian veteran was near his best in Kvitfjell last season, winning the first of two Downhills, the 19th of his career, plus winning the Super-G and finishing 6th in the second Downhill of the weekend.

James Crawford was the only other non-Swiss racer to win a Men’s Downhill event last season, triumphing in Kitzbühel. Cameron Alexander finished third in that race, marking the first time two Canadians had stepped on a World Cup podium since the 2011–12 season in Chamonix, when Jan Hudec won, and Erik Guay finished third. This was his first World Cup victory.

Miha Hrobat finished fourth in last season’s Downhill standings. He is looking for his second consecutive podium finish in Beaver Creek. The Slovenian was third last season, his first-ever World Cup podium place.

Hrobat has scored points in his past 12 consecutive Downhill World Cup races. This is the second-longest current streak. Marco Odermatt has the longest 18 consecutive points-scoring races.

The returning Aleksander Aamodt Kilde has the chance to improve his record as the most successful active Downhill skier in Beaver Creek. The Norwegian has won twice down the Birds of Prey course, in 2021-2022 and 2022-2023. The only other skier with two podium finishes is Marco Odermatt, who has finished second twice, in 2022 and 2024.

Kilde will be racing his first World Cup Downhill since his crash at the end of the Wengen Downhill in January 2024. He made his return to the Alpine Ski World Cup in the Super-G in Copper Mountain.

The 33-year-old Norwegian skier has a formidable World Cup speed record with 21 World Cup victories, 12 in Downhill and 9 in the Super-G, and 44 podiums (20 DH, 24 SG), and five Crystal Globes, two in Downhill, two in Super-G, and one Overall.

Norway is the most successful nation in the Beaver Creek Downhill, having claimed seven wins to date. Austria and Switzerland have six wins. Aksel Lund Svindal is the most successful Downhill skier in Beaver Creek, with four wins in 2008, 2013, 2015, and 2017. Hermann Maier and Bode Miller have three victories each.

Bode Miller was the last US skier to win in Beaver Creek in December 2011. The last US skier to step on the podium in Beaver Creek was Steven Nyman, who finished 3rd in 2014.

Niels Hintermann is back at the start of such a selective downhill race as the Birds of Prey, 14 months after the shock diagnosis of lymphoma and the associated chemotherapy and radiation.

The 30-year-old's last podium finish and victory came in the Downhill event in Kvitfjell on 17 February 2024. This was his third World Cup win and his second Downhill victory at the Norwegian ski resort. He also won the first Downhill event held in Kvitfjell in March 2022.