Ski & Snowboard Club Vail’s River Radamus finishes Top 30 at World Cup opener
Tommy Ford leads all Americans
Chris Dillmann | cdillmann@vaildaily.com
In the opening World Cup race of the season — a giant slalom in Soelden, Austria, on Sunday — Ski & Snowboard Club Vail’s River Radamus made the cut and finished 27th, 3.07 seconds off of Norwegian Lucas Braathen, who clinched his first career win at the season-opening race.
Radamus, 22, the son of former SSCV executive director Aldo and current SSCV coach Sara, made his World Cup debut in 2017 at the Birds of Prey races at Beaver Creek. In 2018, Radamus scored his first World Cup points and in 2019, he finished 19th in the World Cup finals super-g in Soldeu, Andorra.
With an impressive start to the 2020-21 season, Radamus will look to build more experience, and scores, on the World Cup circuit this season.
Fellow SSCV athlete Bridger Gile also got a start in Soelden, however did not qualify for the cut.
Swiss racers Marco Odermatt and Gino Caviezel rounded out the podium Sunday. The top American was Tommy Ford, finishing 22nd. Ted Ligety finished 29th.
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For Braathen, who had never finished in a World Cup podium position, it was a long wait sitting in the leader box watching the other racers try to best his time. But the Norwegian’s time held up.
“It’s a pretty good day,” the 20-year-old told Austrian TV with a bright smile.
No spectators were allowed at the race as one of the precautionary health and safety measures amid the pandemic.
The next World Cup races are parallel events for men and women in another Austrian resort, Lech/Zuers, on Nov. 13-14.
