Streif

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Streif
The lower section (Hausberg–Traverse–Zielschuss).
Place:	Kitzbühel
Mountain:	Hahnenkamm
Member:	Club5+
Opened:	1937
Competition:	Hahnenkamm Races
Downhill
Start:	1,665 m (5,463 ft) (AA)
Finish:	805 m (2,641 ft)
Vertical drop:	860 m (2,822 ft)
Length:	3,312 m (10,866.14 ft)
Level:	expert
Max. incline:	40.4 degrees (85%)
Avr. incline:	15.1 degrees (27%)
Min. incline:	1.1 degrees (2%)
Time record:	1:51.58 by Fritz Strobl (1997)
Most wins:	Didier Cuche (5x)

Streif is a World Cup downhill ski course in Austria, located on Hahnenkamm mountain (Kitzbühel Alps) in Kitzbühel, Tyrol, competing for the Hahnenkamm Races since 1937.

It runs on natural terrain (pasture in summer) with minor modifications done over the years, next to "Ganslern" course. part the world's second oldest ski competition.

With 50,000 people the most visited ski event each year, with many famous people including Arnold Schwarzenegger as regular guest and from F1 world.

It is the most famous, the most prestigious and the most watched ski competition, with global audience of about 300 milion people annually.

History[]

From 1931 'till 1936 it was held on nearby courses "Hahnenkamm" and "Ehrenbachhöhe". Since premiere in 1937, The Hahnenkamm slalom is held on this course (Ganslern).

In 1954, one time exceptionally no Hahnenkamm Trophy was awarded, they were competing on the so-called "Vorderganslern" at Austrian International Winter Sports III competition.

In 2006, morning fog at the top forced organizers to lower the start 115 m (380 ft) to the middle of the "Karusell", below the "Mausefalle". This shortened the length of the course by 347 m.^[1]

The downhill races were cancelled in sesons 1964, 1970, 1971, 1988 1988, 1993 2005 and 2007 due to weather conditions, mostly due to lack of snow and were replaced on other venues.

Start – "Mausefalle"

"Alte Schneise" (Old corridor)

Seidlalm, a gasthaus where World Cup was founded in 1966 by Serge Lang, Honore Bonnet and Bob Beattie. It is located next to "Seidlalmsprung"

Franz Klammer in 1976,
the second of his four Streif wins

Full "Streif" course seen on the Hahnenkamm mountain (far right)

Didier Cuche (SUI) won
record 5 downhills in total

In 2008, strong upwinds at the "Mausefalle" caused race officials to lower the start 50 m, shortening the course by 100 m. This eliminated most of the "Startschuss" and its instantaneous speed; the "Mausefalle" was accordingly altered to a speed-inducing pitch, rather than a formidable jump and compression. Though Didier Cuche won the race, the 2008 edition is likely best remembered for the high-speed crash of Scott Macartney on the "Zielsprung", seconds before the finish, as well as Bode Miller tying for second with Mario Scheiber after riding the safety fencing in the "Steilhang" exit to "Brückenschuss" section.

The full course returned in 2009, for the first time in five years, with Didier Défago winning the race. In addition to having the fastest time, he also had the highest speed on the "Zielschuss" at 142.3 km/h (88.4 mph). It was the second consecutive downhill victory for Défago; he won the Lauberhorn downhill the previous week at Wengen to join a handful of skiers to win both classic races in consecutive weeks.^[2] It was last accomplished by Stephan Eberharter in 2002 and first Swiss win since 1992 win by Franz Heinzer. The final training run on Thursday saw the serious crash of Swiss racer Daniel Albrecht, again at the "Zielsprung." It resulted in a three-week coma and Albrecht's absence from the World Cup circuit for the remainder of the 2009 season and the entire 2010 season.

The full course was run in 2010 under clear skies and again won by Didier Cuche, who had also won the Super-G the previous day. The only significant crash was by former champion Michael Walchhofer, who twisted into the net fence at the final left turn, less than 20 seconds from the finish; he was quickly back on his feet. Cuche's downhill victory was his third on the "Streif", his first was in 1998 on a Friday "extra" race. The "Zielsprung" was significantly moderated in 2010 due to the serious accidents the previous two years.

In 2011, Didier Cuche won the Hahnenkamm downhill for the fourth time to tie the record with Franz Klammer.^[3]

A year later, and two days after announcing his retirement at the end of the season, Cuche claimed his third consecutive downhill victory at Kitzbühel and a record fifth in total.^[4]

in 2013, Dominik Paris claimed the title to become the second winner from Italy and the first in fifteen years after Kristian Ghedina.^[5][6]

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Location in Austria

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Location in the Alps

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Location in Europe

in 2014, the lower course was altered due to lack of snow. The dramatic "Querfahrt" sidehill traverse and speed-inducing "Zielschuss" were bypassed; the racers detoured toward the "Ganslern" slalom course, then rejoined the course for the final "Rasmusleitn". This extended the overall length by 182 m (597 ft) to 3.494 ft (1.065 m) and reduced the finishing speed. Hannes Reichelt was the first winner from Austria in eight years.

in 2015, upper mountain fog forced the start to the "Seidlalmsprung" section, the lowest in history. Kjetil Jansrud of Norway won in less than a minute on the lower 50% of the course.^[7]

High winds in 2016 lowered the start 40 m to the top of Mausefalle. On the full course in 2017, Paris became a two-time winner.

Course sections[]

Sections of the Streif downhill course include:^[8]

Startschuss[]

At 1,665 m (5,463 ft) (AA) start house straight down to 160 metres long "Startschuss" (Starthang) with 27° degrees (51%) incline, reaching 100 km/h in 8.5 seconds on the extreme icy and leaning surface direct to "Mausefalle" jump. Skier has no time to breathe. There is a very special atmosphere in the start, with total silence, skiers have total respect for this dangerous course.

Mausefalle[]

"Mausefalle" (mousetrap) is the scariest, the most famous and the steepest part of the course with 40.4° degrees (85%) incline. Skier overjumps this incredibly steep hang about 80 meters long at about 100 km/h and increase up to 120 km/h at the bottom of this section. Around 1955, this section was named by the father of Austrian ski legend Toni Sailer, who compared this jump to a mouse trap as skiers jump to the unknown, into the abyss.

Karusell[]

"Karusell" (carousel) is a very demanding at high speed entering 180-degree leaning turn. Here athletes endure centrifugal force of 3.1 g.

Steilhang[]

"Steilhang" (steep slope) is one of the most tehnically challenging sections in the World Cup with demanding and extended technical right turn with 35.8° degrees (72%) incline and entrance to the flats at the end.

Brückenschuss & Gschöss[]

"Brückenschuss & Gschöss" are the easiest part of the course, gliding flats road, time to take a little breath, but need to focusing on not to lose and maintain good speed

Alte Schneise[]

"Alte Schneise" (old corridor) is the steep long section, not extremely demanding. Section starts after small jump, right after gliding flats road

Seidlalmsprung[]

"Seidlalmsprung" (Seidlalm jump) was first introduced in 1994. It is located next to Seidlalm farm, where World Cup was founded by Serge Lang, Honore Bonnet and Bob Beattie in 1966. It is exactly on midpoint of the course. Athletes approach the jump in a deep squat position, without being able to see what is coming next. This is no time to be making any mistakes!Whilst in the air they must rotate to the right in order to be correctly positioned for the sweeping curve of the “Seidlalmkurve”.

Lärchenschuss[]

"Lärchenschuss" is a gliding among larch trees section, reached right after 90° degrees turn, leading into "Oberhausberg" section

Hausbergkannte[]

"Hausbergkannte" (Hausberg fall) hang is the key and deciding part of the course, jumping over 35° degress (70%) incline gradient into extremely demanding left turn into a compression.

It is followed by a challenging sharp left left turn to the “Hausberg Querfahrt" into "Traverse", where the most falls, some of them very spectacular happened over the years.

Traverse[]

"Traverse" or "Querfahrt", is a rough sidehill of glare ice, strong leaning bumpy terrain, defying gravity, with many spectacular falls in the past.

Zielschuss[]

"Zielschuss" (Finish speed ride) with compression & jump and with top speed over 145 km/h (90 mph) leading into a finish jump.

Rasmusleitn[]

"Rasmusleitn" or "Zielsprung" is a spectacular, long and very tricky jump just before the finish line at high speed, on which many suffered severe injuries with brutal falls.

Facts and figures[]

• The length of the Streif course is 3.312 km (2.058 mi).^[8]
• The starting gate is at an elevation of 1,665 m (5,463 ft) above sea level;
  the Streif vertically descends 860 m (2,822 ft) to the finish at 805 m (2,641 ft).^[8]
• The average grade of the course is 27 percent (15.1 degrees).
• The maximum grade is 85% (40.4°) at the Mausefalle; minimum is 2% (1.1°) ^[9]
• The record for the full 3.3 km course was set in 1997 by Fritz Strobl of Austria at 1:51.58,^[10] an average speed of 106.9 km/h (66.4 mph), and an average vertical descent rate of 7.7 m/s (25.3 ft/sec).
• The first non-European to win a downhill race at Kitzbühel in the World Cup era was Ken Read of Canada in 1980.^[11] Previously, the only non-European champion was Buddy Werner of the U.S., who won in 1959 at age 22. Canadians won races four consecutive years from 1980–83; the only non-European winner since is Daron Rahlves of the U.S., who prevailed on an abbreviated course of 2.0 km (1.2 mi) due to fog in 2003.
• Five victories have gone to Scandinavians, all from Norway. Atle Skårdal was the first in 1990 and Lasse Kjus won twice, in 1999 and 2004; both of Kjus' victories were "extra" races, held on Friday and Thursday, respectively. Kjetil Jansrud won on a shortened course in 2015.^[7] In 2022 Aleksander Aamodt Kilde became the fourth Norwegian to win this race.
• The Streif course was one of several featured in the 1969 movie Downhill Racer, starring Robert Redford and Gene Hackman. It was shown as itself and later as the Olympic course, with race footage from the 1969 race.
• The Streif course was first used in 1937; eight years without Hahnenkamm races followed (1938–45) until the return in 1946.^[12]
• Since returning in 1946, the downhill races have been run in all but eight years: 1952, 1964, 1970, 1971, 1988, 1993, 2005, & 2007.

Downhill champions[]

The following is a list of Hahnenkamm downhill winners, with their winning times:^[13]

Year	Date	Winner	Nation	Time	Notes
World Cup
2022	January 23	Beat Feuz (3)	Switzerland	1:56.68	weather forecast; moved from Saturday to Sunday
	January 21	Aleksander Aamodt Kilde	Norway	1:55.92	high winds – start: 40 m above "Mausefalle"
2021	January 24	Beat Feuz (2)	Switzerland	1:55.29	"Sunday" – moved from Saturday (rain and snow)
	January 22	Beat Feuz (1)	Switzerland	1:53.77	"Friday" – replaced Wengen (COVID-19)
2020	January 25	Matthias Mayer	Austria	1:55.59
2019	January 25	Dominik Paris (3)	Italy	1:56.82	"Friday" – moved from Saturday (weather forecasts)
2018	January 20	Thomas Dressen	Germany	1:56.15
2017	January 21	Dominik Paris (2)	Italy	1:55.01
2016	January 23	Peter Fill	Italy	1:52.37	high winds – start: 40 m above "Mausefalle"
2015	January 24	Kjetil Jansrud	Norway	0:58.16	fog; start: "Seidlalmsprung" – 1.6 km [7][14]
2014	January 25	Hannes Reichelt	Austria	2:03.38	lack of snow, "Querfahrt" & "Zielschuss" bypassed
2013	January 26	Dominik Paris (1)	Italy	1:57.56	[15]
2012	January 21	Didier Cuche (5)	Switzerland	1:13.28	snowing; start: "Alte Schneise" – 2 km [16]
2011	January 22	Didier Cuche (4)	Switzerland	1:57.72	[17]
2010	January 23	Didier Cuche (3)	Switzerland	1:53.74	[18]
2009	January 24	Didier Défago	Switzerland	1:56.09	[2][19]
2008	January 19	Didier Cuche (2)	Switzerland	1:52.75	upwinds – start: 40 m above "Mausefalle"[20]
2007	lack of snow and warm temperatures; replaced in Garmisch-Pa on 23 February 2007[21]
2006	January 21	Michael Walchhofer	Austria	1:46.75	fog; start: bottom of "Mausefalle" for safety[22]
2005	safety reasons; snow and rain; replaced in Garmisch-Pa on 18 February 2005[23]
2004	January 24	Stephan Eberharter (2)	Austria	1:55.48
	January 22	Lasse Kjus (2)	Norway	1:58.78	"Thursday" – replaced Wengen (snow, wind)
2003	January 25	Daron Rahlves	United States	1:09.63	fog; start at "Alte Schneise" – 2 km [24]
2002	January 19	Stephan Eberharter (1)	Austria	1:54.21
2001	January 20	Hermann Maier	Austria	1:56.84
2000	January 22	Fritz Strobl (2)	Austria	1:46.54	shortened
1999	January 23	Hans Knauß	Austria	1:54.18
	January 22	Lasse Kjus (1)	Norway	2:14.13	"Friday" – 2 runs sprint (start: "Alte Schneise")
1998	January 24	Kristian Ghedina	Italy	2:05.49
	January 23	Didier Cuche (1)	Switzerland	2:31.55	two shortened runs – start: "Alte Schneise"[25]
1997	January 25	Fritz Strobl (1)	Austria	1:51.58	record time for full course[10]
	January 24	Luc Alphand (3)	France	2:12.55	"Friday" – 2 runs sprint (start: "Alte Schneise")
1996	January 13	Günther Mader	Austria	1:54.29	record: held for 1 year
1995	January 14	Luc Alphand (2)	France	1:40.97	DH2 – start: "Steilhang" (too much snow)
	January 14	Luc Alphand (1)	France	1:40.33	DH1 – start: "Steilhang" (from Friday to Saturday)
1994	January 15	Patrick Ortlieb	Austria	2:00.12
1993	lack of snow; replaced in St. Anton on 16 January 1993 (snowmaking added)
1992	January 18	Franz Heinzer (3)	Switzerland	1:56.63
	January 17	Franz Heinzer (2)	Switzerland	1:56.04	"Friday" – replaced St. Anton (record held 4 years)
1991	January 12	Franz Heinzer (1)	Switzerland	1:58.71
1990	January 20	Atle Skårdal	Norway	2:26.20
1989	January 14	Daniel Mahrer	Switzerland	1:58.42
	January 13	Marc Girardelli	Luxembourg	2:01.25	"Friday" – replaced Las Leñas
1988	lack of snow; replaced in Bad Kleinkirchheim on 16 January 1988
1987	January 25	Pirmin Zurbriggen (3)	Switzerland	1:58.06
1986	January 18	Peter Wirnsberger (2)	Austria	2:02.04
	January 17	Peter Wirnsberger (1)	Austria	2:01.77	"Friday" – replaced Garmisch-Partenkirchen
1985	January 12	Pirmin Zurbriggen (2)	Switzerland	2:08.65
	January 11	Pirmin Zurbriggen (1)	Switzerland	2:06.95	"Friday" – replaced Puy St. Vincent
1984	January 21	Franz Klammer (4)	Austria	2:02.82
1983	January 22	Todd Brooker	Canada	2:01.96
	January 21	Bruno Kernen	Switzerland	2:06.68	"Friday" – replaced Wengen
1982	January 16	Steve Podborski (2)	Canada	1:57.24
	January 15	Harti Weirather	Austria	1:57.20	"Friday" – replaced Morzine (record held 10 years)[10]
1981	January 17	Steve Podborski (1)	Canada	2:03.46
1980	January 12	Ken Read	Canada	2:04.93
1979	January 20	Sepp Ferstl (2)	West Germany	2:04.48
1978	January 21	Josef Walcher (2) & Sepp Ferstl (1)	Austria  West Germany	2:07.81	tied result (double win)
	January 20	Josef Walcher (1)	Austria	2:06.90	"Friday" – replaced Heavenly Valley
1977	January 15	Franz Klammer (3)	Austria	2:09.71
1976	January 25	Franz Klammer (2)	Austria	2:03.79
1975	January 18	Franz Klammer (1)	Austria	2:03.22	record held for 7 years
1974	January 26	Roland Collombin (2)	Switzerland	2:03.29	record held for 1 year
1973	January 27	Roland Collombin (1)	Switzerland	2:13.32
1972	January 15	Karl Schranz (4)	Austria	2:24.36
	January 14	Karl Schranz (3)	Austria	2:23.70	"Friday" – replaced Val d'Isere
1971	cancelled; replaced in Megève on 31 January 1971
1970	cancelled; replaced with GS on Ganslern course on 17 January 1970
1969	January 18	Karl Schranz (2)	Austria	2:18.80
1968	January 20	Gerhard Nenning	Austria	2:14.49
1967	January 21	Jean-Claude Killy	France	2:11.82	record held for 7 years [10]
FIS–A
1966	January 22	Karl Schranz (1)	Austria	2:16.6	record held for 1 year
1965	January 23	Ludwig Leitner	West Germany	2:30.8
1964	lack of snow
1963	January 19	Egon Zimmermann	Austria	2:20.7	record held for 3 years
1962	January 20	Willi Forrer	Switzerland	2:37.6
1961	January 21	Guy Périllat	France	2:29.2
1960	January 16	Adrien Duvillard	France	2:26.1	record: held for 3 years[10]
1959	January 17	Buddy Werner	United States	2:33.4	record held for 1 year
1958	January 18	Anderl Molterer (2)	Austria	2:40.7	record held for 1 year
1957	January 19	Toni Sailer (2)	Austria	2:47.1
1956	January 14	Toni Sailer (1)	Austria	2:57.8
1955	January 15	Anderl Molterer (1)	Austria	2:46.2	record held for 3 years
1954	January 23	Christian Pravda (2)	Austria	2:47.9	record held for 1 year
1953	January 17	Bernhard Perren	Switzerland	2:54.5	record held for 1 year
International
1952	not on calendar
1951	February 7	Christian Pravda (1)	Austria	2:57.1
1950	March 11	Fritz Huber	Austria	3:04.3
1949	February 5	Egon Schöpf	Austria	3:03.0
1948	March 13		Austria	3:16.3
1947	March 7		Austria	3:36.0
1946	March 2	(2)	Austria	3:04.3
1945	no races during World War II period
1944
1943
1942
1941
1940
1939
1938	race was announced; then cancelled
1937	March 19	Thaddäus Schwabl (1)	Austria	3:53.1	"Streif" course premiere (held ever since)
1936	March 7		Austria	5:03.2	held on "Penkelstein" course
1935	March 23		Austria	4:38.8	held on "Stickelberg" course
1934	race announced; not realized due to political reasons
1933
1932	March 19	Walter Prager	Switzerland	7:56.4	held on "Stickelberg" course
1931	March 28		Austria	4:34.2	held on "Flecklam" course

• Each downhill champion's name is affixed to a gondola car on the Hahnenkammbahn lift, which extends from the Kitzbühel base to the top of the Hahnenkamm mountain.

Club5+[]

In 1986, elite Club5 was originally founded by prestigius classic downhill organizers: Kitzbühel, Wengen, Garmisch, Val d’Isère and Val Gardena/Gröden, with goal to bring alpine ski sport on the highest levels possible.^[26]

Later over the years other classic longterm organizers joined the now named Club5+: Alta Badia, Cortina, Kranjska Gora, Maribor, Lake Louise, Schladming, Adelboden, Kvitfjell, St.Moritz and Åre.^[27]

References[]

Coordinates: 47°25′27″N 12°21′55″E / 47.424167°N 12.365278°E / 47.424167; 12.365278