Birds of Prey is a World Cup downhill ski course located at Beaver Creek, Colorado, USA. A regular stop on the men's tour, the World Cup races in Beaver Creek are usually held in early December. The course hosted the World Championships in February 1999, and is scheduled again for 2015. With lower starting gates, it is also used for Super-G and Giant Slalom races.[1]
For the World Cup downhill race in December 2009, the starting gate was at an elevation of 11,427 feet (3483 m) above sea level with the finish area at 8943 feet (2726 m), a vertical drop of 2484 feet (757 m). The course was 1.747 miles (2.812 km) in length,[2] an average gradient of 27 percent (15 degrees), with a maximum gradient of 45 percent in the middle. The December 2010 downhill race was cancelled due to high winds.
The Birds of Prey course was built in 1997 for the 1999 World Championships, designed by 1972 Olympic champion Bernhard Russi. The early races were dominated by Austrians, led by the legendary Hermann Maier. In 1999, he won gold at the World Championships in front of 20,000 spectators. In December 2004, Americans Bode Miller and Daron Rahlves won the gold and silver in the World Cup downhill race,[3] the first ever one-two finish for American men in a downhill, and the first in any event in over two decades, since the 1984 Olympic slalom.
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