Events

10 facts about the Hahnenkamm Races

In January, when the downhill race on the Streif and the slalom on the Ganslernhang take place, Kitzbühel becomes the centre of the alpine winter sports world. The first documented ski races took place there as early as 1894/95. In 2024, the official Hahnenkamm Race will take place for the 84th time. Despite their age, the Hahnenkamm Races are more popular today than ever before. We have collected 10 facts for you that you can use to impress friends and acquaintances when it comes to the Hahnenkamm Race.

1. on the track

The most famous downhill race course in the world starts at 1,665 metres above sea level on the Hahnenkamm and ends after 3,312 metres at 805 metres above sea level at the "Rasmusleitn" in the immediate vicinity of the town. It is steepest at the start of the so-called "Mausefalle" with a gradient of 85 per cent. Racers jump up to 80 metres in the mousetrap and reach speeds of over 140 kilometres per hour in the finish compression. Incidentally, the highest speed measured to date was reached by Michael Walchhofer in 2006 at an incredible 153 kilometres per hour! For comparison: the maximum speed limit on Austrian motorways is 130 kilometres per hour.

2. behind the scenes

On race days, more than 1,400 people around the Hahnenkamm are directly and indirectly involved in the event. To secure the downhill course, there are more than 10,000 metres of spectator fences, 2,000 metres of "G-fences" (sliding fences at various heights on special safety poles), 1,300 metres of "A-net" (high security nets), 4,000 metres of "B-net" (two-metre high safety fences on special safety poles) and 1,000 metres of Willibags (cushions to secure the course).

Männer bauen die Fangnetze entlang der Skipiste auf

3. the Hahnenkamm premiere

The first International Hahnenkamm Race takes place in 1931. The Briton "Mouse" Gordon N. Cleaver receives 269.29 points for sixth place in the downhill and second place in the slalom. The Englishman is thus the first Hahnenkamm winner (combined). Ferdinand Friedensbacher wins the downhill and Hans Mariacher, also an Austrian, wins the slalom. From 1932 to 1961, women's races are also organised on the Hahnenkamm. The Austrian Traudl Hechner wins the women's race in 1960.

4. audience records

Since the first race on the Hahnenkamm, the number of people watching the action on site has risen steadily. While in the 1970s there were still 21,000 spectators in the finish area, the number of spectators grew steadily until 1999, when a new attendance record was set: 99,000 people watched the race for the Kitzbühel Siegergams live. After that, the influx levelled off at around 80,000-85,000 people. Only in 2021 do the athletes compete in front of empty grandstands: Due to the pandemic, the Hahnenkamm Race was organised as a ghost race and fans were only allowed to watch the event from their TV sets.

5. the Hahnenkamm course record

The winning time of 1:51.58 minutes in the 1997 Hahnenkamm Downhill seems to be cemented in the truest sense of the word. To this day, nobody can beat the 20-year-old course record set by Austrian Fritz Strobl.

6th Ex-Aequo victory

There were two winners in 1978: Josef Walcher (AUT) and Sepp Ferstl (GER). Neither before nor after have two downhill skiers shared the top step of the podium, making it the only ex-equo victory in Hahnenkamm downhill history to date. However, in 1975 Franz Klammer (AUT) and Gustav Thöni (ITA) finished just 0.003 seconds apart and narrowly missed out on a joint victory.

Doppelsieg von Sepp Ferstl und Josef Walcher

7th Hahnenkamm legends

Anderl Molterer from Kitzbühel is known as "Mister Hahnenkamm" with a total of nine victories, while Toni Sailer triumphs five times on the Hahnenkamm. Sailer becomes the "black lightning from Kitz" and is also known as a singer and film actor alongside his skiing career. With a time of 01:13.28 minutes, the Swiss Didier Cuche wins the downhill for the fifth time in 2012 (and for the third time in a row) (2008, 2010, 2011 and sprint downhill 1998) and is crowned winner in Kitzbühel for the sixth time in total (with super-G in 2010). This makes Cuche the sole downhill record holder on the Streif, followed by Karl Schranz and Franz Klammer (four wins each).

Die großen drei Anderl Molterer, Toni Sailer und Traudl Hecher

8th Kitzbühel Triple

Only six athletes managed to win the downhill, slalom and combined and thus the triple on the Hahnenkamm: Egon Schöpf (1949), Christian Pravda (1951), Toni Sailer (1956), Anderl Molterer (1958), Andrien Duvillard (1960) and Jean Claude Killy (FRA) in 1967. After the Frenchman, no one else has managed this triple.

9th German successes on the Ganslern slope

In 1979, Christian Neureuther defeats the great Ingemar Stenmark and puts an end to the wait for the first German slalom victory on the Ganslern slope since Ludwig Leitner in 1963. After that, however, it was another long wait. It was not until 1989 that a German won again with Armin Bittner, this time ahead of the Italian Alberto Tomba. Incidentally, the Neureuther family has a particularly beautiful history with the Ganslern slope: 35 years after his father Christian, Felix Neureuther was crowned slalom winner in Kitzbühel in 2010 and 2014.

Felix Neureuther freut sich über den Sieg bei der Zieleinfahrt

10. a podium for Austria

Franz Klammer is the Kitzbühel dominator of the 1970s: the Hahnenkamm downhill races from 1975 to 1977 all go to the Austrian. After a seven-year dry spell, Klammer celebrates victory number four on the Streif in 1984 - after which the spectators kick down the barrier fences in excitement and stream into the finish area. Two more Austrians, Erwin Resch and Anton Steiner, finish in second and third place.