The fastest women in the world descended upon Beaver Creek for the first-ever downhill on the famed Birds of Prey course – and they certainly didn’t disappoint!
The same could also be said for Mother Nature as she graced the race with brilliant blue skies and Colorado sunshine. Yes, all the stars finally aligned Dec. 3-15 as Beaver Creek hosted the traditional men’s Stifel Birds of Prey race weekend Dec. 3-8, followed by the women’s World Cup Dec. 11-15.
One year after snow and wind wiped out the men’s races in 2023, every race and training run experienced fantastic weather, except for the final women’s downhill training run on Friday, Dec. 13, which was moved from the downhill start to the lower giant slalom start due to wind. But when the women finally raced the first official Birds of Prey World Cup downhill on Saturday, Dec. 14, sunshine returned and 45 women were greeted to one of the fastest, steepest downhill tracks in the world!
“Everyone was discussing, some critical, and some other comments ‘that it is just a man’s race!’” said Austria’s Cornelia Huetter, who edged out Italy’s Sofia Goggia by 0.16 seconds for the first-ever women’s Birds of Prey downhill victory. “Yes, it’s steep! It was the same steepness as on the men’s side. But we all skied really solid…so it was one step forward and we showed the whole world that (women) can race the Birds of Prey.”
Swiss racer Lara Gut-Behrami, who was third in the super-G and second in the downhill, has a long, storied history of racing at Beaver Creek. She praised the weather and course conditions for the inaugural women’s Birds of Prey downhill race.
“It was a great show for everyone, and I think that both days showed that it is all a matter of how you prepare the slope,” said Gut-Behrami, who finished third in the downhill at the 2015 FIS Alpine Ski World Championships on the adjacent Raptor downhill course. “If it is so bumpy and so icy, it is probably too complicated for the women, but on a smooth surface, like we had here this week, it is a pretty amazing women’s course.”
American legend Lindsey Vonn, who also has a long, storied history of racing in Beaver Creek, was a forerunner for two of the downhill training runs and both the downhill and super-G as she prepared for her return to World Cup racing after a six-year retirement.
Vonn won a World Cup super G on the Birds of Prey track in 2011, a race that was originally scheduled for Val d’Isere, France. She also placed third in the super-G on the adjacent Raptor course at the 2015 FIS Alpine Ski World Championships. Throughout her career, she has long championed for women racing, not only on the Birds of Prey but also on other famous downhill tracks, including the famed Streif on Hannenkahm Mountain in Austria. In fact, Vonn became the first woman to ski the Steif in Kitzbühel, Austria (at night!) in 2023, four years after she retired from the sport.
Now she’s back, and she used four runs down the Birds of Prey to prepare for her return to World Cup racing. “It felt so normal to be standing in the start gate,” Vonn said after her first training run down the track. “The first run on any new downhill is a little awkward. Some turns I skied well, some turns I was a little bit conservative. But it felt really good!”
More than 5,000 fans who witnessed the first women’s Birds of Prey downhill would certainly agree that it felt really good to finally see women racing on the famed track. But when will they return? Time will tell, but based on the success of this year’s event, FIS will certainly revisit having the women back in Beaver Creek soon.
For the 2025-26 FIS Alpine Ski World Cup season, the men are scheduled to race downhill, super-G, and giant slalom on the Birds of Prey Dec. 5-7, 2025.
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