Ski and Snowboard Club Vail alumnus posts top American time on day 1 of Birds of Prey World Cup downhill training

After inclement weather canceled all three Birds of Prey World Cup races last December, Ski and Snowboard Club Vail alumnus Kyle Negomir was all smiles after the first day of downhill training Tuesday morning.

“It’s sunny, we’re skiing downhill — life’s good,” the U.S. Ski Team athlete said after posting the seventh-best time, and fastest American split on the 753-meter slope. 

“It was good. I think it took everyone a little bit by surprise — it always does, the first World Cup,” the 26-year-old continued. “I think there was a lot more terrain with how much snow they had this year. They were able to build a lot of fun stuff and it makes it run a little bit differently than normal. I think some of those bumps were more aggressive than some of us were expecting.”

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Miha Hrobat posted the top time on Tuesday. The 29-year-old Slovenian — who has never been on a World Cup podium but won the 2015 World Junior super-G title — stopped the clock in Red Tail Stadium at 1 minute, 41.21 seconds, 0.61 clear of Swiss star Marco Odermatt. Austrian veteran Vincent Kriechmayr — who won the super-G in Beaver Creek in 2017 and was second in the downhill in 2019 — was 22nd.

“Pretty tough this year, but I mean the snow conditions are amazing,” the 18-time World Cup winner said. “Birds of Prey is still one of the most difficult tracks of the whole year. I try my best, but today was a little bit struggling.”

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Noticeably absent from the field was Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, who won back-to-back Birds of Prey races in both 2021 and 2022. The Norwegian didn’t get a chance to three-peat last year and is still recovering from injuries sustained in a downhill crash on the Wengen Lauberhorn on Jan. 13.

“We want to see him here; I mean it’s always impressive to see him,” Kriechmayr said. “He steps our sport to the next level. It’s quite impressive to watch him.”

Bryce Bennett was the next American after Negomir, coming through in 21st. The two-time Olympian — who won the first World Cup downhill of the 2023-24 season — echoed Negomir’s sentiment regarding recent snowfall’s effect on course dynamics.

“The surface is amazing and with that extra snow they’re able to build some pretty big terrain into the downhill, which generally we don’t get to see just because of a lack of snow this time of year,” Bennett stated. The 14-year U.S. Ski Team veteran said the flow and feel reminded him of the 2015 World Championships held at Beaver Creek.

“For me, personally, I like that because I’m a tall guy, so I can deal with it a little bit better than some,” he said.

One athlete who wasn’t satisfied with how he navigated the challenges was Ryan Cochran-Siegle. Having finished sixth in 2019 and 2021 and seventh in 2022 at Birds of Prey, the Olympic silver medalist said he arrived Tuesday brimming with confidence.

“I was trying to stick to that, but didn’t anticipate a lot of the terrain as well as I should have,” the 32-year-old American said after coming through with the 35th-best time. “I was trying to find speed, trying to ski aggressive in places and I think there was just a lot of places that it was too direct, too over the top. So, I got to figure out a way to tone it back, not get dragged so much in places.”

Looking ahead to Friday’s downhill, Kriechmayr said the secret to winning at Beaver Creek is the same as any other World Cup event.

“You know, just keep pushing, totally on the limit,” the 2021 world championship super-G and downhill double-gold medalist said. “No mistakes and yeah, that’s what you need to win here. We’ll see who’s the best on Saturday and Sunday.”

All told, nine Americans completed Tuesday’s training run. Negomir’s fellow SSCV alumni, River Radamus finished 63rd, 3.68 seconds off the pace. The Edwards native will compete in the super-G and giant slalom on Dec. 7 and 8, respectively, but not the downhill on Dec. 6. 

Even though Negomir had a good day, he’s still hungry for more.

“I was happy with the way I approached things and I think I kept rolling well, but there were some kind of key sections where I feel like I made big mistakes and gave a lot of time away,” he said before adding that ultimately, you can’t put too much stock in a training run anyway. 

“I mean, I think any day you’re able to be fast, it’s good for your confidence,” he continued. “I’ve been skiing fast in the prep period — but trying to keep in mind that you don’t get paid for training runs. So, hopefully we can use this as a little bit of momentum going into the days that actually count.”