| Hahnenkamm | |
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Hahnenkamm above Kitzbühel, May 2005 |
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| Elevation | 1,712 m (5,617 ft) [1] |
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Hahnenkamm
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| Range | Kitzbühel Alps |
The Hahnenkamm is a mountain in Austria, directly south of Kitzbühel, in the Kitzbühel Alps. The elevation of its summit is 1,712 metres (5,617 ft) above sea level.
The Hahnenkamm (German: rooster's comb) is part of the ski resort of Kitzbühel, and hosts the annual World Cup alpine ski races, the Hahnenkammrennen. The most famous slope on the Hahnenkamm is the classic downhill course, the Streif (streak, or stripe), which is regarded as the most demanding race course on the World Cup circuit. The course features highly technical, "fall-away" turns (reverse bank), many with limited visibility. It also contains several flat gliding sections, immediately preceded by difficult turns, placing a premium on both technical and gliding skills. Run on the mountain's north face, the Streif course is mostly in the shade in January, if skies are clear. Usually overcast and often coupled with fog, the result is "flat" lighting, compounding the course's difficulty.
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The Hahnenkammrennen are the annual races, held since 1931 and a fixture of the men's World Cup since its inception in the 1967 season. The races were originally held in March, and sometimes in early February (1949 & 1951). Beginning in 1953, the races at Kitzbühel have been held in mid to late January, often the week following the Lauberhorn in Wengen, Switzerland, another classic downhill.
Since 1959, the race has been broadcast on Austrian television.[2] The 69th Hahnenkamm races took place on January 23–25, 2009; the 2010 races are scheduled for January 22–24.
In 2009, as well as in 2008, the total prize money was 550,000 Euro.[3]
The Hahnenkamm races are currently held in the following disciplines:[4]
Traditionally, the winner of the Hahnenkamm race was determined by the combined results of the downhill and slalom competitions; during the World Cup era, the man most likely to be referred to as Hahnenkammsieger (champion) is the winner of the prestigious downhill race.
The Super-G made its debut at Kitzbühel in 1995, and returned as a regular event in 2000, scheduled the day before the downhill.
Because of challenging weather conditions in January at the top of the mountain, the downhill course is often not run in its entirety. In the decade of 2000-09, the Streif full course was run in only four of the ten years (2001, 2002, 2004, & 2009). Unfortunately, this often eliminates one of the most exciting jumps in ski racing, the Mausefalle (mousetrap), seconds from the top of the course. The competitors reach high speeds quickly out of the starting gate on the Startschuss and fly up to 80 m (262 ft) off the steep jump. Upon landing the racers experience a severe compression immediately followed by a sharp left turn, often negotiated unsuccessfully. Speeds entering the turn are 75-80 mph (120–130 km/h).
In 2006, morning fog at the top of the course forced race organizers to lower the start 115 m (377 ft) to the middle of the Karusell, below the Mausefalle. This shortened the length of the course by 347 m (1,138 ft).[5] The downhill race was cancelled in 2005 and 2007.
In 2008, strong upwinds at the Mausefalle caused race officials to lower the start 50 m (164 ft), shortening the course by 100 m (328 ft). 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 & 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.
The full course returned in 2009, for the first time in five years, with Didier Défago of Switzerland winning the race. In addition to having the fastest time, he also had the highest speed on the Zielschuss at 88.4 mph (142.3 km/h). 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.[6] It was last accomplished by Stephan Eberharter of Austria in 2002 and had been 17 years since a Swiss racer won both (1992 - 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.
On 22 January 2011, Didier Cuche won the downhill event for the fourth time tying the record with Franz Klammer.
Sections of the Streif downhill course include:[7]
The following is a list of Hahnenkamm downhill winners, with their winning times:[12]
pre-World Cup era
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.
In the evening dawn of 25. February 2011 the first Streif VerticalUp race took place with a mass start. No rules, just up the route of the ski race, but in the "rucksack-class" up the less steep family ski piste. 79 in the speed class and 116 with rucksack reaches the goal: the start booth of the ski race. On shoes with spikes, with pickel or ski sticks, snow shoes, touring or cross-country skis, whatever.
The fastest man (Urban Zemmer (ITA) 0h32:52) and the second fastest as well as the fastest woman (Barbara Exenberger (AUT) - 0h54:47) have all been in sub-class "over40" and used touring skis. See http://www.verticalup.at/ .
