American women ready to ‘send it’ down Birds of Prey at Beaver Creek
Special to the Daily
U.S. 撸先生 & Snowboard/Courtesy photo
Stifel U.S. Alpine 撸先生 Team member fondly remembers her first World Cup race in Beaver Creek back in 2013. It was a cold, late November day, and she was starting bib no. 51.
“Beaver Creek was my first World Cup, so it holds a special place in my heart,” Wiles recalled. “I remember being wide-eyed and excited to take it all in.”
In her World Cup debut, a wide-eyed Wiles finished 43rd, competing on the new Raptor women’s downhill course, which was built to host the women’s speed events for the 2015 FIS Alpine 撸先生 World Championships. Swiss racer Lara Gut-Behrami won the downhill that day and then went on to win the super-G on the same course the following day.
The Raptor course, located a few hundred feet east of the famed Birds of Prey Course, was last run at the 2015 FIS Alpine 撸先生 World Championships when Slovenia’s Tina Maze won the downhill and alpine combined world titles. Austria’s Anna Fenninger won the super-G title. Wiles finished 18th in the Alpine combined downhill.
Since its inception in 1997, the Birds of Prey downhill course 鈥� designed by the Swiss Olympic Gold Medalist Bernhard Russi and built for the men’s downhill for the 1999 FIS Alpine 撸先生 World Championships 鈥� has annually hosted men’s World Cup races, and two World Championships events (1999, and 2015). However, the women have only raced once on the Birds of Prey course 鈥� a super-G World Cup on December 7, 2011, which was a make-up race for a canceled event in Val d’Isere, France. Lindsey Vonn won that race, leading three of her American teammates into the top 11.
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Now, more than 10 years since the last women’s World Cup race in Beaver Creek, and six years since the last World Cup women’s speed event was held in the U.S. in 2017 in Aspen, the fastest American women in the world will finally have a “home” World Cup race Dec. 14-15 in Beaver Creek. But this time, it will not be on the tamed Raptor course. For the first time in history, the women will run downhill on the Birds of Prey.
“I have never raced a World Cup in the U.S. before,” said Stifel U.S. Alpine Team member , who grew up attending the Birds of Prey with her family and cheering on her American ski racing heroes Bode Miller and Darren Rahlves. “Beaver Creek has a special place in my heart just watching Bode and Darren, and all the people that I used to idolize, and still idolize to this day. It is so special now that I get to go down that same course and have my family be there to cheer me on; it is going to be amazing!”
What is even more amazing is how far women’s sports in general, and ski racing in particular, have progressed since Beaver Creek last hosted a women’s World Cup ski race. Vonn, who racked up 82 World Cup victories over her illustrious career and long championed women competing on the same downhill courses as men, became the聽in Kitzb眉hel, Austria (at night!) in 2023, four years after she retired from the sport. Then there is Mikaela Shiffrin, a once-in-a-generation athlete who has 97 World Cup victories, including four World Cup downhill and five World Cup super-G wins to her credit, who, along with her American teammates, will be one to watch at Beaver Creek in December.聽
Thousands of ski racing fans are expected to cheer for the men when the Stifel Birds of Prey once again hosts its traditional downhill, super-G and giant slalom races Dec. 6-8. But when the women kick out of the start house the following weekend on Saturday, Dec. 14, for the inaugural women’s Birds of Prey downhill, thousands more fans are expected to cheer and witness ski racing history.聽聽
“You have a sense of patriotism racing in the U.S. that we don’t have very often since normally our entire season is abroad,” Wiles said. “Getting to feel the energy from a home crowd is going to be special. It is going to be such a cool feeling being a part of the American squad representing Beaver Creek.”
“I am incredibly excited to race at Beaver Creek because it is so much fun to compete in front of a home crowd and it means that more of my friends and family can come and watch me race,” added Stifel U.S. Alpine 撸先生 Team member and U.S. Downhill Champion .
When the American women show up in Beaver Creek, they will be looking to capitalize on last season’s World Cup downhill success 鈥� Shiffrin’s downhill win in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and Wiles second-place finish in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. For Wright, she is looking for her first World Cup podium and Beaver Creek would be the perfect venue for her to accomplish a life-long goal.
“I would absolutely love to have my first podium, and better yet, a win this year at Beaver Creek,” Wright said. “To (win) on home soil would be even extra special鈥� something that is a dream and goal of mine, and something that I would absolutely love for it to happen.
“I’m just really excited to feel the energy on that side of the course,” Wright said of finally having the opportunity to race in front of a home country crowd at Beaver Creek. “It’s going to be one of the most full-circle moments I think of my career yet, so I’m really grateful for this opportunity and I cannot wait to send it down Birds of Prey.”
Tom Horrocks is the Vail Valley Foundation’s press chief for the Birds of Prey 2024 event.
