Joy and tears at the Super-G in Copper Mountain: Marco Odermatt celebrated his second win of the season, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde his comeback after a 684-day injury break.
It was the first test of strength for the speed riders this World Cup winter. And like every year at the beginning of the season, the big question at the Super-G in Copper Mountain was: who is where?
Tears of joy at Kilde’s comeback
But for start number 22, this question was initially of secondary importance: Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, a big player in the scene, was back in the World Cup after a 684-day injury break. An emotional moment, not only for Kilde himself, but also for his fiancée Mikaela Shiffrin, who cried tears of joy in the finish area.
The Norwegian made an impressive comeback after almost two years of suffering and has already proven over long stretches that he can play at the top again. Only 1.25 seconds separated him from the fastest time at the finish. In the end that meant 24th place in his comeback race.
Again and again Odermatt
At the forefront, as so often in recent winters, was the dominator of the World Cup, Marco Odermatt. The Swiss was once again the measure of all things. However, in the short Super-G with a running time of just 1:07 minutes, he was only able to beat the Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr in second place by just eight hundredths of a second. Third-placed Raphael Haser was also only just behind Odermatt, 13 hundredths of a second behind.
In general, the world elite in the USA were extremely close to each other. On the short, round and fairly set course there was hardly any room for big time differences. There was not a second difference between first place and 16th place.
Jocher with a solid comeback
It was a mixed start to the Olympic winter for the German speed riders. Simon Jocher was the first German to start the race. For the 29-year-old, it was his comeback race after two disc operations. He kept up for a long time in the upper part, then lost a lot of time in the lower part and ended up in 20th place. After a long break due to injury, a solid return to the World Cup for him.
It was a used start for veteran Romed Baumann: 1.66 seconds behind Odermatt, he missed the points in 37th place.
Giant slalom specialist Anton Grammel dared to compete in a Super-G for the first time. In the end he ended up in 61st place. In the giant slalom on Friday he already has another chance for World Cup points.