KITZBUEHEL: The World Cup downhill in Kitzbuehel remains the ultimate test for an alpine skier, requiring nerves of steel, courage and raw physical aggression but also the mental ability to safely manage risk on the infamous course.
The "Streif" piste down the Hahnenkamm (rooster's comb) mountain in the beautiful Tirol valley also has a deeper significance as racers tweak their form before next month's World Ski Championships in Colorado.
Tens of thousands of spectators pack into the glitzy resort, turning the weekend into an unparallelled fiesta glorifying fast alpine skiing, with the finish area situated directly in the centre of the town.
They come to see their skiing heroes negotiate the most prestigious speed event in one of the circuit's most iconic locations: racers touch 100km/h within 8.5 seconds of leaving the start and there have been some extremely gruesome crashes, notably Swiss racer Daniel Albrecht in 2009 and Austrian Hans Grugger in 2011.
Saturday's 75th running of the downhill, which made its debut in 1931, is over a piste more than 3.3 kilometres long, with racers reaching motorway-coasting speeds of 140km/h while being forced into negotiating 80-metre jumps.
The roll of honour on the hill includes multiple winners Didier Cuche (5) and Franz Klammer (4), Swiss duo Franz Heinzer and Pirmin Zubriggen, the Canadian "Crazy Canucks" trio of Todd Brooker, Steve Podborski and Ken Read in the 1980s, and French legend Jean-Claude Killy back in 1967.
Austrian Fritz Strobl won in 1997 and still holds the record time for the full course of 1min 51.58sec.
Comments
Comments are closed.