He clocked a time of 1:29.84 to hold off the American Ryan Cochran Siegle (1:30.14) and that of Norway Adrian Smiseth Sejersted (1:30.53).
It is the first downhill win for Odermatt at Beaver Creek. He achieved second place in both 2022 and 2024.
“I’m very happy, twice second. Behind [Aleksander Kilde] and last year behind [Justin Murisier]”, he said afterwards. “That was nice, but now that I won here for the first time in the downhill, I felt very good while skiing, especially the field was very good from my side, so it was a cool race for me.”
Eleventh on skis, Odermatt shot to the top of the leaderboard, but then had to wait and watch as more than 50 of his competitors took to the course before knowing his victory was safe.
However, no one could beat Odermatt’s time.
Thursday’s victory is Odermatt’s 48th World Cup victory and his 98th career podium finish.
“Every win is special because it’s always hard work to get yourself in the mood to really go for it,” he said.
With weather-dependent schedule changes – including moving downhill one day – Odermatt admits he has faced challenges this week.
“The last two downhill training sessions weren’t that easy. I didn’t really feel comfortable attacking,” he explained, “so today, with the perfect weather we had, it was just fun to ski and completely trust your skiing.
“I had a good plan and line in my head. Everything fit together.”
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