Swiss skiers complete Birds of Prey World Cup sweep as Thomas Tumler takes giant slalom title

For the third day in a row, a Swiss skier stood atop the podium at the Birds of Prey World Cup.

After watching Justin Murisier win Friday‘s downhill and Marco Odermatt take Saturday’s super-G, Thomas Tumler decided it was his turn on Sunday.

“I don’t have any words at the moment,” the 35-year-old said after claiming his first World Cup win in the giant slalom. “When the World Cup calendar was out and I saw Beaver Creek, I joked that I would win there. And now I am here.”

Tumler built a massive first-run lead and finished with a two-run time of 2 minutes, 27.60 seconds on the 434-meter course. He said he changed his setup going into the second run, but he was bleeding time at each checkpoint.

“My feeling was still not very good in the second run and then I was in a rush to check the time,” he said. “At first I couldn’t find it and I was also listening to the reaction of the crowd and it was a special feeling. I finally found the time and I saw green and it was really amazing.

Support Local Journalism

Donate

The Swiss held off Norwegian-born Brazilian skier Lucas Pinheiro Braathen (2:27.72), who claimed Brazil’s first World Cup podium with his runner-up finish.

“I just think it’s such a privilege to be able to be the first one to bring the Brazilian flag — something I’m so proud of — to a winter sport podium,” said Braathen, who returned to the World Cup circuit after taking last season off. “I came onto the circuit to make a difference. Came here to be myself and hopefully be an inspiration to the outcasts out there and to the people who feel a bit different.”

Slovenian Zan Kranjec (2:28.18) rounded out the podium in third.

“I felt good on the skis, I skied well and attacked,” Kranjec said. “I know there were a few small details I could do better but otherwise I’m really happy because I was worried that I wouldn’t have enough speed on this hill.”

River Radamus followed up his eighth-place super-G from Saturday with another top-10 result — leading the Americans in seventh. The Edwards skier sat in 14th after the first run, but felt “something was lacking.”

“The run felt good, but everybody feels good on this type of snow. It’s called hero snow for a reason and knowing that I came down to the bottom feeling good was probably a bad sign,” he said. “So, I knew I had to red line a little bit more on the second run, make some mistakes and push my limit — and I think I did that.”

The 26-year-old said he struggled finding his rhythm at the top and felt a couple bobbles coming over The Golden Eagle feature, but he skied aggressively through the final two sectors to earn some time in the leader’s chair.

“I thought the bottom half of the course just kept getting better and better,” Radamus said. Patrick Kenney was the only other American to qualify for a second run, but ultimately did not finish.

The other big DNF on the day was from Tumler’s teammate, Marco Odermatt. The defending GS crystal globe winner won the first 12 GS events last season but was 1.26 seconds off the lead after the first run on Sunday. He clipped the fifth gate with the inside of his ski, skiing out for the second time this season. Going back to last year’s World Cup Finals, Odermatt has posted DNFs in his last three GS events.

Alexis Pinturault made his return to the World Cup after a knee injury in the super-G in Wengen, Switzerland last January. The 35-time World Cup winner and 2021 overall champion was an early leader and left satisfied with his 16th-place showing.

“My first run, I was not pushing like I wanted, but for my first race after my big injury, it’s quite OK, especially with the second run,” the 33-year-old said.

“Now the goal is to build day after day. Getting more consistent and confident — because that is what is missing at the moment. I have some confidence, but it’s far away from what I had before.”

Confidence continues to build for Radamus, who has come a long way since he made his World Cup debut in Beaver Creek back in 2017.

“I didn’t score,” he recalled. “I’ve done two GS’s here before and never scored points. It felt like something that was on the list of things I needed to check off — to have a good result in front of the home crowd in my main event.”