In Justin Murisier’s mind, only “a real downhiller” can win the Birds of Prey World Cup.
The three-time Olympian has a pair of top-10 giant slalom finishes at Birds of Prey from 2017 and 2019 and was also 13th in the slalom at the 2015 Beaver Creek World Championships. But his tech background has never translated to speed success on the 753-meter slope.
Until Friday.
“I did it,” Murisier said after taking the win on the first of three days of racing at Beaver Creek. “So it means I’m a downhiller now.”
Murisier, who has battled injuries throughout his career — including knee surgery this summer — stopped the clock in Red Tail Stadium at 1 minute, 40.04 seconds, 0.20 seconds clear of countryman Marco Odermatt.
“It means a lot,” Murisier said after securing his first World Cup victory in 187 starts.
“I was struggling all summer so it’s crazy to actually win here for the first race,” he said. “It’s nice and even more because it’s a world championship year, so It means I have some hope for the next races.”
Odermatt—the Birds of Prey runner-up in three straight races going back to Dec. 3, 2022 — admitted Friday’s run wasn’t his best.
“I was just not that fast on the flat part, so I already was a little behind,” said the Swiss star, who briefly poked into first after the third sector. “Then I had a very good middle part and then another mistake in the second-to-last jump which was too far — not in a good direction. So, I think I lost the victory there.”
The GS, super-G, downhill and overall crystal globe winner from 2024 was celebrating the fifth anniversary of his first-career World Cup win, which came in a super-G at Beaver Creek in 2019.
“It’s always great to come back here,” Odermatt, now a 37-time winner, said. “We love to race here. For me, (it’s) the best downhill we have on tour.”
The athlete with the best training run on Tuesday, Miha Hrobat, rounded out the podium in third. The 29-year-old Slovenian was just 22nd in the downhill standings last season but believes he’s in the midst of a breakthrough.
“I hope so,” he said “I knew that I’m skiing good the whole preparation period. So, I was just trying to relax and attack like I know how to do it.”
Hrobat was only 42nd through the top section. He made up for his slow start by posting the field’s fastest second and fifth sector.
“I never know with my flat — one time it can be fast, one time it can be slow,” he said. “I think I lost some time on the top but then I managed to ski fast and get a few hundredths back.”
Crawford finishes as best North American and Bennett leads U.S. in sixth
Canadian James Crawford continued his string of success in Colorado. The 27-year-old —who was third three years ago — took the wooden medal, finishing just 0.16 off the podium.
“There’s definitely things I could have done better in order to make it a little closer to the top guys, but all in all, super happy with my run,” Crawford said before adding that the dry snow reminds him of what he grew up skiing on. “So when we come here, regardless of the training we’ve had, it’s pretty easy to adapt. And with that, it’s just the style and how you have to ski the course (that) really suits my skiing.”
At last year’s Birds of Prey event, Crawford’s teammate, Broderick Thompson, sustained severe head injuries during a training run crash. Thompson was airlifted to Denver and placed in a medically-induced coma. While the 30-year-old announced his plans to return to snow last October, Crawford said the crash was on his mind when he stepped into the starting gate.
“Just working up the confidence to ski a full-on this year again took a little bit more than usual,” he said. “And I’m very, very happy with the outcome.”
While Crawford was the top North American, Bryce Bennett led the U.S. with a sixth-place finish, his best Beaver Creek result. The 14-year U.S. Ski Team veteran said it was “one of the most difficult” runs at Beaver Creek he’s skied.
“The second training run you had a little bit more grip and then with everyone sliding and inspecting, it really locked up,” the veteran said. Fellow American Ryan Cochran-Siegle agreed.
“After training runs, 70 people skiing the track, it gets a little more rattle; it definitely had that a little bit,” he said after taking 12th. “Just really nice conditions though — how you want World Cup to be. You have to really stand on the ski in order to cut through.”
While Cochran-Siegle said there was “a touch of disappointment” from his run because of a “lack of commitment on certain turns,” he was proud of the overall American showing. Sam Morse scored points in 21st and Erik Arvidsson was 34th in his first World Cup race since March 5, 2023. Ski and Snowboard Club Vail alumnus Kyle Negomir finished 45th overall, 2.94 seconds off the pace.
“I mean I think it was pretty disappointing after skiing decently both of the training days,” said Negomir, who was seventh and 19th on Tuesday and Thursday. The 26-year-old said he made a critical mistake entering The Brink at the top of his run.
“And then you’re out of the race before you do anything,” he said. “It’s always good when you know the skiing is there but it’s obviously disappointing that you can’t do it when it counts. It doesn’t really matter what you do on training day, but that’s life and you know you learn from it and move on.”
Still, Negomir remained upbeat and enjoyed the roar of the hometown crowd.
“It’s our home. Everyone loves being here,” he said before praising his teammates. “Ryan and Bryce are our veteran leaders of the team and they performed. For Erik to come down and be sitting in the points in your first race back and after a knee injury, that’s hard to do mentally. That was really impressive and I think we were all really proud.”
Racing continues at Beaver Creek on Saturday with a super-G starting at 10:30 a.m.
