11/27/25 02:51:00
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11/27 14:50 CST Odermatt wins season-opening super-G at Copper Mountain as
Kilde's return reduces Shiffrin to tears
Odermatt wins season-opening super-G at Copper Mountain as Kilde's return
reduces Shiffrin to tears
COPPER MOUNTAIN, Colo. (AP) --- Swiss ski star Marco Odermatt started the World
Cup super-G season with a Thanksgiving win at Copper Mountain on Thursday,
while Aleksander Aamodt Kilde reduced fiance Mikaela Shiffrin to tears by
making his comeback after nearly two years out.
Odermatt has already won the opening giant slalom --- at Slden in the Austrian
Alps last month --- in what is an ominous start to the season by the world's
best men's skier leading up to the Milan Cortina Olympic Games in February.
The Colorado course is hosting men's World Cup races for just the second time,
after 1975-76, and it was the stage for another strong run by Odermatt, who
still needed to make up time in the final section to overhaul Vincent
Kriechmayr and win by 0.08 seconds.
It denied Austria a clean sweep, with Raphael Haaser a further 0.05 back in
third and Stefan Babinsky in finishing fourth.
Odermatt, the defending overall champion, has won the crystal globe for the
season-long title in super-G for the past three years.
For much of that time, Kilde --- the 2020 overall champion and winner of 21
World Cup races --- has been on the sidelines because of the effects of
injuries sustained in a horrifying downhill crash in January 2024.
Nearly 700 days later, Kilde was back racing --- and it was all too much for
Shiffrin, the U.S. skiing great, who was in the crowd and weeping as he crossed
the line 1.25 seconds adrift of Odermatt.
The 33-year-old Kilde wound up tied for 24th place and was given a big hug by
the emotional Shiffrin minutes after getting down the hill. She later took a
photo of Kilde with Odermatt, who was congratulating the Norwegian on his
return to competition.
Kilde underwent surgery for a severe cut and nerve damage in his right calf and
two torn ligaments in his shoulder after the crash at the classic Lauberhorn
downhill in Wengen. He has since said his leg will never be the same again and
that there is limited in movement in his shoulder.
Given that backdrop, it was an encouraging display by Kilde on a course that is
well known to most of the speed racers because it's been frequented as a
training site by all of the top teams in recent years.
It was the first of nine super-Gs in a season interrupted by the Olympics.
Beaver Creek in the United States hosts the second race next month.
Odermatt's stats
It was a 47th World Cup victory for Odermatt, and his 16th in super-G.
According to the International Ski and Snowboard Federation, it was Odermatt's
26th podium finish in super-G, tying him for third place with Norway's Kjetil
Jansrud on the men's all-time list behind Hermann Maier and Aksel Lund Svindal.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
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