Odermatt wins Sunday’s super-G to close out Aspen World Cup, eyes overall title
John Locher/AP
Much like Saturday when there was little surprise when Aleksander Aamodt Kilde won the downhill, there was little to be shocked by when Marco Odermatt claimed Sunday’s super-G in the final race of the Aspen World Cup.
The win clinched the season-long super-G title for Odermatt, the rising Swiss superstar who has won five of the seven super-G races this season. The 25-year-old also found the podium in his other two super-G starts.
“It was a perfect super-G season from the first race until now,” Odermatt said after Sunday’s race.
Odermatt’s time of 1 minute, 6.8 seconds down the course on Aspen Mountain was just enough to hold off runner-up finisher Andreas Sander, as the German was only 0.05 back of Odermatt at the finish. Norway’s Kilde was third, 0.34 back of Odermatt. Austria’s Stefan Babinsky just missed the podium, 0.47 off the pace.
The win gives Odermatt a substantial margin over Kilde in the battle for the overall title, with Odermatt now sitting at 1,626 points and Kilde 1,240 points with only the season-ending World Cup finals to go for the speed athletes. A race win is worth 100 points.
Odermatt is the reigning overall champion.
The top American on Sunday was Erik Arvidsson in 14th place, while Ryan Cochran-Siegle finished 18th overall. Edwards’ star River Radamus was among a handful or racers who did not complete the super-G.
The super-G capped off the return of the World Cup to Aspen for the first time since the 2017 finals, when Vail’s Mikaela Shiffrin clinched her first overall crystal globe. This time, it was her boyfriend, Kilde, who stole most of the show.
The last official men’s downhill prior to Saturday — and not including the 2017 finals — was on March 5, 1994, a race won by Canada’s Cary Mullen. Austria’s Hannes Trinkl had won another downhill a day earlier. Kilde’s win on Saturday meant his name was added to Aspen’s famed Roch Cup, and it also clinched the Norwegian the season-long downhill title.
Aspen Mountain did host a men’s downhill in 1995, but that controversial race was ultimately erased from the record books as not all the racers were able to finish because of the weather. Unofficially, American A.J. Kitt won and some in his circle still considered him the last to win a World Cup downhill in Aspen outside of finals.
The last time a men’s super-G was raced in Aspen outside of finals was in November 1998, won by Stephan Eberharter. Aspen’s own Casey Puckett was 12th in that race.
Friday’s downhill, which had been set to kickoff the weekend of racing in Aspen, was canceled after the weather made racing conditions unfair for the field.
According to the FIS website, the last men’s races on Aspen Mountain, outside of the 2017 finals, were a pair of slaloms in November 2001, won by Ivica Kostelic and Mario Matt. American icon Bode Miller was second to Matt in that second slalom.
The 2023 World Cup finals are scheduled for March 13-19 in Andorra. There are still two men’s giant slaloms, as well as a giant slalom and slalom for the women, remaining before finals.
