Hutter Wins Opening Speed Race Of 2024/25 In Beaver Creek

Not even the return of speed queen Sofia Goggia (ITA/Atomic) could prevent Conny Hütter (AUT/Head) from starting this World Cup Downhill season the same way she finished the last one — on top of the podium.

In an exciting duel, Cornelia Hütter won the downhill ahead of the Italian Sofia Goggia (+0, 16 seconds). Third place went to Lara Gut-Behrami from Switzerland (+0, 34 seconds).

Defending World Cup Downhill champion Hütter won the opening speed race of 2024/25 in Beaver Creek on Saturday, becoming the first woman to conquer the iconic Birds of Prey track in Colorado.

Skiing with bib No. 11 after provisional leader Goggia had thrown down the gauntlet, Hütter skied with the green light all the way and stopped the clock with a winning time of 1 minute, 32.38 seconds.

"It's amazing and I'm really proud to be able to ski like that today," said Hütter, whose mastery of the track belied her nerves going into a race on a course that the women skied for the first time at World Cup level. It's a really tough Downhill track. It's so steep that at the first inspection I thought, 'Are you kidding me?' Is that real?' That's how steep it is. I think I've never been that steep before. You have to fight all the way down. The last jump, it was a little bit scary. All in all, it makes a lot of fun." – Conny Hütter on the Birds of Prey

Veteran stars Goggia (+0.16s) and Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI/Head, +0.34s) rounded out the top three, while 22-year-old Lauren Macuga (USA/Rossignol) finished a career-high fourth with bib No.27, missing the podium by 0.18 seconds.

Given the technical-heavy early part of the season, this was Hütter's first World Cup race since she won the season-ending Downhill in Saalbach last March to secure the discipline Crystal Globe ahead of Gut-Behrami.

Despite taking a low line on a sweeping left-footed turn early in the challenge, and not recording the fastest time in any of the five splits, the 32-year-old was consistent all the way down and didn't let wearing the red bib put her off her game.

"It was a little bit 50/50, for sure it's a pressure," the Head skier said of entering the season as the defending Downhill champion. "I showed everyone that I can ski very fast in Downhill."

That's something Goggia has been showing the world for years. Returning to the tour from a broken right tibia 10-and-a-half months after her last race in January, the four-time World Cup Downhill champion almost lost her balance on a simple roller just 11 seconds into her challenge.

She soon settled down and although she couldn't match her effort in Friday's final training run that she won by over a second, Goggia set a target time that ultimately only Hütter could top.

The Italian star, who has suffered her fair share of injuries over the years due at least in part to her aggressive style, revealed that she almost retired from the sport during her latest recovery.

"I know it's a comeback race, but it feels like it's not a comeback race," the 32-year-old Atomic skier said. "This is my job, this is my passion, it's a lot of years I'm doing this. Today I felt like I never left for the injury, but at the same time I knew exactly what I had to pass and (have) been through this summer. I was really close to quit. I know it would have been so perfect to win today, but I wasn't so perfect in the bottom. I had a good race but I think I skied 80 percent of my potential."

Gut-Behrami, coming off her spectacular triple-globe campaign in 2023/24, was skiing only her second race of the young season after missing the opening Giant Slalom in Sölden with knee soreness.

Skiing immediately after Goggia, the Swiss star led the Italian on the second and third splits but couldn't maintain that advantage all the way to the finish line.

"Pretty well until the middle, then I did a mistake entering the flat — I lost a lot of speed and I lost a lot of time down there," Gut-Behrami said in describing her run. "I'm a little bit disappointed about that, but in the end I'm also happy to be on the podium on the first Downhill of the season."

And with Goggia now having returned to the World Cup, one of her closest friends is about to do the same — albeit after a much longer layoff.

In the next stage of her comeback at age 40, Lindsey Vonn (USA/Head) served as a forerunner on Saturday and then announced that she will return to racing on the World Cup tour for the first time since January 2019 in St. Moritz next Saturday.

"Next weekend. Two Super Gs, I'll be there," Vonn said. "I'm excited to be back."