Beaver Creek Mountain is home to the formidable Birds of Prey racecourse.
The 2021 Xfinity Birds of Prey Audi FIS Ski World Cup races will feature two Super-G races and two Downhill races.
The Birds of Prey was the Men's racecourse for the 2015 World Championships. It is regarded as one of the most difficult Downhill courses in the world and features a vertical drop of 757 meters. With lower starting gates, it is also used for Super-G, Giant Slalom, and Slalom races.
The Birds of Prey is host to the only Men's Alpine Skiing World Cup event in the United States.
Beaver Creek’s Birds of Prey racecourse was built during the summer of 1997 in preparation for the 1999 World Alpine Ski Championships. Designed by Olympic Downhill gold medalist Bernhard Russi of Switzerland, Birds of Prey starts west of the top of Chair 8 and finishes at the bottom of Red Tail at the confluence of Chairs 10 and 11. The course features a vertical drop of 710 meters and contains an average gradient of 27 percent, increasing to 45 percent in the middle of the course and again in the final third of the course.
The first competition on Birds of Prey took place December 2-6, 1997, with a pair of Men’s World Cup Downhill races and a men’s World Cup Super-G.
The fastest World Cup or World Championships Downhill race time ever recorded on Birds of Prey is 1:39.59, set in 2003 by the U.S. Ski Team’s Daron Rahlves.
Previous Birds of Prey Downhill and Super-G Winners
1997
DH Kristian Ghedina, ITA
DH Andreas Schifferer, AUT
SG Hermann Maier, AUT
1999
DH Hermann Maier, AUT
SG Hermann Maier, AUT
2000
DH Hermann Maier, AUT
SG Fredrik Nyberg, SWE
2002
DH Stephan Eberharter, AUT
SG Didier Cuche, SUI
2003
DH Daron Rahlves, USA
DH Hermann Maier, AUT
SG Bjarne Solbakken, NOR
2004
DH Bode Miller, USA
SG Stephan Goergl, AUT
GS Lasse Kjus, NOR
2005
DH Daron Rahlves, USA
SG Hannes Reichelt, AUT
2006
DH Bode Miller, USA
2007
DH Michael Walchhofer, AUT
SG Hannes Reichelt, AUT
2008
DH Aksel Lund Svindal, NOR
SG Aksel Lund Svindal, NOR
2009
DH Carlo Janka, SUI
2010
SG Georg Streitberger, AUT
2011
DH Bode Miller, USA
SG Sandro Viletta, SUI
2012
DH Christof Innerhofer, ITA
SG Matteo Marsaglia, ITA
2013
DH Aksel Lund Svindal, NOR
SG Patrick Kueng, SUI
2014
DH Kjetil Jansrud, NOR
SG Hannes Reichelt, AUT
2015
DH Kjetil Jansrud, NOR
SG Marcel Hirscher, AUT
2017
SG Vincent Kriechmayr, AUT
DH Aksel Lund Svindal, NOR
2018
SG Max Franz, AUT
DH Beat Feuz, SUI
2019
DH Beat Feuz, SUI
SG Marco Odermatt, SUI
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