Marco Odermatt undeniably is him. The four-time defending Crystal Globe champion emerged victorious in the first super-G of the 2025-26 FIS Alpine Ski World Cup season at Copper Mountain.

Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT) claimed second (+0.08), picking up where he left off last year: right behind Odermatt in the discipline.

Fellow countryman Raphael Haaser (AUT) took third (+0.13), collecting his sixth career podium in the process.

The odds-on favorite coming in, Odi flew out of the starting gate donning the 11th bib and unleashed a brilliant run (par for the course) that propelled him to the highest step of the Copper Mountain podium with a time of 1:07:70. 

“We are used to training here every year, but never to race,” he reflected afterward. “So it was kind of special to finally race here. I had a great run from top to bottom and I’m happy with my performance.”

The result makes Odermatt two-for-two in Cup races on the season and gives him 16 career super-G wins and 47 Cup wins total. He now stands alone in fifth place all time in men’s Cup victories, passing the legendary Marc Girardelli (AUT).

Marco Odermatt (SUI) celebrates with the Crystal Globe after clinching the 2025 World Cup overall title at Sun Valley.

Credit: Christopher Creveling-Imagn Images

Aleksander Aamodt Kilde raced for the first time in 684 days and put together a very respectable run (+1.25). He finished tied for 24th as an emotional Mikaela Shiffrin, his fiancée, watched on from the crowd.

Ryan Cochran-Siegle, the super-G silver medalist at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, was impressive in his 2025-26 debut. Fittingly, he wore bib number one, starting the United States' inaugural race day of the season with a bang. He came in 10th, 0.83 seconds behind the winner. If it weren’t for a slip-up in Sector 5, he could have landed in the top five, so a bittersweet finish for the 33-year-old. It’s the strongest performance for an American through the first-four Cup events.

“The snow was great. Honestly, I was just getting a little bit fatigued by the bottom and not maintaining elevation,” RCS said post-run. “It's funny, I’ve been skiing this mountain since like 2012 or 2013, and it always pulls down there. So there's nothing that we didn't know. I just needed to execute a little better.”

Colorado natives River Radamus and Kyle Negomir placed 22nd and 23rd, respectively, enough to pick up a combined 16 points.

American Tanner Perkins raced his first World Cup, finishing 51st (+2.15), while two-time Olympians Bryce Bennett and Jared Goldberg struggled, taking 61st and 65th (out of 70 competitors). 

*Delayed broadcast*