After the Men's weekend, the Stifel Birds of Prey Audi FIS Ski World Cup will host the Women's Downhill and Super-G on December 14 and 15. This year's event is the first time the Women's Alpine Ski World Cup speed circuit has come to Beaver Creek since 2013. Also for the first time in history, the world’s best Women’s ski racers will race Downhill on the legendary Birds of Prey course. It is regarded as one of the most difficult Downhill courses in the world.
Beaver Creek (USA)
December 14th Downhill / Women 11:00 LOC / 19:00 CET
December 15th Super-G / Women 11:00 LOC / 19:00 CET
Switzerland's Lara Gut won the opening Women's World Cup Downhill of the 2013-2014 season with a dominant performance in Beaver Creek. Tina Weirather finished second 0.47 seconds off the pace. Rounding out the podium, Italy's Elena Fanchini finished 0.98 seconds behind. The following day, a 22-year-old Gut put in a strong run to win the Super-G.
In 2015, Tina Maze won the gold medal in the Ladies' Downhill at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships held in Vail and Beaver Creek. Anna Fenninger finished in second place, just 0.02 seconds behind, while Lara Gut secured third place, 0.34 seconds off the pace to take the bronze medal. The top three were in a league of their own in the last Women's Downhill held in Beaver Creek, showcasing their exceptional technical skills on the challenging Raptor course.
Each of the last ten Women's Alpine Ski World Cup Downhill events, including all eight of the 2023-2024 winter season, had a different winner: Kajsa Vickhoff Lie (Kvitfjell), Ilka Štuhec (Soldeu), Mikaela Shiffrin (St. Moritz), Jasmine Flury (Val d'Isere), Sofia Goggia (Zauchensee), Stephanie Venier (Cortina d'Ampezzo), Ragnhild Mowinckel (Cortina d'Ampezzo), Lara Gut-Behrami (Crans Montana), Marta Bassino (Crans Montana), and Cornelia Hütter (Saalbach).
Cornelia Hütter won the last Downhill race of the season in Saalbach and claimed the discipline Crystal Globe. The last time an Austrian skier led the Downhill standings was in 2019 when Nicole Schmidhofer won in front of an Austrian trio of Stephanie Venier and Ramona Siebenhofer.
The 31-year-old Styrian skier won in Saalbach her first Downhill race in over six years and took home her maiden Crystal Globe.
Cornelia Huetter finished on the podium in three of the eight Downhill events last season including her win in the Alpine Ski World Cup Finals in Saalbach. It was her sixth World Cup victory and the second in the Downhill. Her previous win was in Lake Louise back in 2017. She achieved 15 of her 28 World Cup podiums in the Downhill discipline.
2023-2024 was the best season in Huetter's career finishing 5th in the Overall standings, first in the Downhill, and third in the Super-G.
Lara Gut-Behrami finished in 17th place at the Alpine Ski World Cup Finals in Saalbach, which meant that the Downhill Crystal Globe slipped out of the hands of the Overall World Cup winner at the very last moment.
Corinne Suter was the last woman from Switzerland to win the Downhill Crystal Globe in the 2019-2020 season.
Lara Gut-Behrami has 13 wins, tying her with Marie-Theres Nadig for eighth place in most World Cup Downhill victories among women. Swiss skier Maria Walliser ranks seventh with 14 wins.
Switzerland, with 99 victories to date, can become the second country to achieve 100 wins in Women's Alpine Ski World Cup Downhill events, following Austria, which leads with 123 victories.
Sofia Goggia, a four-time winner of the Downhill Crystal Globe, finished third in the discipline standings last season. Unfortunately, she suffered an injury at the end of the competition, specifically a fracture of the tibia and tibial malleolus in her right leg. As a result, she missed the last three Downhill races in Crans Montana, and Saalbach. This injury occurred during a giant slalom training session in Ponte di Legno in February 2024.
32-year-old Goggia is set to return to action at Beaver Creek next weekend.
Stephanie Venier finished in fourth place in the Downhill standings last season. On January 26, 2024, she won the Downhill held in Cortina d'Ampezzo. For the 30-year-old Austrian skier from Tirol, it was her second World Cup victory, the first in almost five years, since she won the Downhill in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on January 27, 2019.
On January 13, she finished second in the Downhill event held in Zauchensee, marking her first Downhill podium since February 2020 in Crans Montana.
Federica Brignone finished fifth in the Downhill standings last season, achieving two podium finishes in World Cup Downhill events: a second place in Crans Montana in February and a third place in St. Moritz in December. Despite her success, Brignone has yet to win a Downhill race in the Alpine Ski World Cup, having finished second five times.
In Sölden, Brignone secured her 28th Alpine Ski World Cup victory. The only Italian with over 28 World Cup victories is ski legend Alberto Tomba, who has 50.
Update 12.11.2024: Federica Brignone set the fastest time in the first Downhill training at the Birds of Prey. Lara Gut-Behrami finished second, 0.39 seconds behind, while Marta Bassino came in third, 0.40 seconds off the pace.
Update 12.12.2024: Lara Gut-Behrami was the fastest in the second Downhill training session at Beaver Creek. Sofia Goggia (+0.67) and Federica Brignone (+0.97) were second and third respectively.
Update 12.13.2024: Sofia Goggia posted the fastest time in the final downhill training session. American Lauren Macuga (+1.10) and Breezy Johnson (+1.27) were second and third respectively. Lara Gut-Behrami was fourth, 1.29 seconds behind the Italian.
Additional Information: After nearly six years of retirement, American Alpine Ski legend Lindsey Vonn returned to ski racing last weekend at Copper Mountain. The 40-year-old skier finished 24th and 27th in the two Downhill races (won by Mirjam Puchner and Cornelia Hütter) during the FIS Fall Festival on Saturday. On Sunday, she placed 24th and 19th (won by Lauren Macuga) in the Super-G events. She has been training with the US Team’s World Cup skiers, who will be competing at Beaver Creek. Vonn had requested a wild card entry to compete in two Super-G races at St. Moritz on December 21 and 22.
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