The China Mail - Odermatt edges Kriechmayr to win Copper Mountain World Cup super-G

Odermatt, the four-time defending World Cup overall champion, clocked 1min 07.70sec to add a victory in the first speed event of the season to his season-opening giant slalom win in Soelden last month.

The 28-year-old Swiss underscored his status as the man to beat in a 2025-26 campaign geared toward the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in February.

Austria's Kriechmayr, starting seventh, had set a target with a storming run in 1:07.78.

But Odermatt -- who collected the super-G, giant slalom and downhill titles last season -- wouldn't be denied, surging into first with a near flawless run.

Austrian Raphael Haaser was third, 0.13sec behind Odermatt, with compatriot Stefan Babinsky fourth.

Norway's Aleksander Aamodt Kilde made an emotional return from a near two-year injury absence with a run that put him 1.25sec behind Odermatt -- tied for 24th.

The 2020 overall World Cup winner and 2023 world championships silver medallist in super-G and downhill, hadn't raced since a serious fall at Wengen in January 2024.

Kilde underwent multiple surgeries on leg and shoulder injuries then after resuming training had to undergo a further procedure due to an infection that developed into sepsis.

The 33-year-old had announced this week he was ready to race after two years that felt "like a lifetime".

The alpine World Cup circuit is back at Copper Mountain this year for the first time since 2001. Men will race a giant slalom on Friday before women's giant slalom and slalom races at the weekend.

D.Peng--ThChM