The 57th Saslong Classic in Val Gardena/Gröden will take place on the last weekend before Christmas.
After the races in Beaver Creek, the Saslong Classic will be the speed athletes' second stop of the Alpine Ski World Cup season.
In 2024 the South Tyrolean ski resort will once again host two races, a Downhill and a Super-G.
Val Gardena / Groeden (ITA)
December 20th Super-G / Men 11:45 CET
December 21st Downhill / Men 11:45 CET
Training sessions have been scheduled for Tuesday, 17th, Wednesday, 18th, and Thursday 19th December.
Val Gardena is home to the Saslong Classic, one of the iconic Men's World Cup Downhill races.
The Saslong course is considered one of the five "classic" Men's Downhill races, along with Garmisch-Partenkirchen's Kandahar, Kitzbühel's Hahnenkamm, Wengen's Lauberhorn, and Val-d'Isère's Criterium de la Première Neige (FRA).
With seven World Cup victories (five in the Super-G, and two in the Downhill), the Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal is the most successful skier on the Saslong.
Austrian Franz Klammer (1975, two races in 1976, and 1982), and Italian Kristian Ghedina (1996, 1998, 1999, and 2001) won the Downhill in Val Gardena four times.
In 1967, the International Ski Federation decided to host the Ski World Championships in the valley in 1970. The first World Cup race was held in Val Gardena/Gröden on February 14th, 1969.
The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1970 were held in Val Gardena from February 8 to 15, 1970. For the first time, results from the World Championships were included in the World Cup points standings, which were then in their fourth season.
After more than 50 years the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships will be back in Val Gardena in 2031. On June 4, 2024, at the 55th FIS Congress in Reykjavik, Iceland, the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) announced that Narvik will host the 2029 Alpine World Ski Championships. The 2031 Alpine World Ski Championships were also awarded during this session. FIS decided to award two World Championships due to the high caliber of the bids.
Since 1972 Val Gardena become a traditional venue of the World Cup races. In 1975, Val Gardena/Gröden hosted the World Cup Finals for the first and only time.
Since 2002 the Downhill has been paired with a Super-G race, and from 1979 to 1982 a combined event was held.
Start altitude: 2,249m (DH), 2,000m (SG)
Finish altitude: 1,410m
Elevation difference: 839m (DH), 590m (SG)
Length: 3,446m (DH), 2,415m (SG)
Steepest section: 56.9%
Lowest gradient: 11.2 %
Average gradient: 24.5%
The Camel Humps represent the most spectacular section of the Saslong. They were named by the late and former Austrian FIS TD Sepp Sulzberger. Uli Spiess from Austria was the first athlete to attempt and succeed in jumping all three Humps at the same time instead of taking each jump separately. Since Spiess' premiere, skiers today mostly absorb the first jump (a.k.a. "Girardelli Line") and leap from the second over the third. The record jump belongs to Austrian skier Michael Walchhofer who leaped 88 meters reaching a height of 4-5 meters in 2003.
Last season in the first of the two Downhills held in Val Gardena-Gröden (one of the Downhill races from Zermatt-Cervinia that were canceled and rescheduled), in a shortened course, Bryce Bennett with start number 34 beaten favorites Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (+0.03) and Marco Odermatt (+0.05). Bennett has achieved his best results in the ski resort in the Dolomites. It was a very close race, with a tight podium and the 30 best racers in the same second as the winner (Martin Cater finished in 30 position merely 0.98 seconds behind Bennett).
Two days after Dominik Paris claimed victory with an unbeatable performance in the Saslong, edging Aleksander Aamodt Kilde by +0.44 seconds. It was the 22nd career World Cup victory for the 34-year-old Italian skier. It is the first victory for Paris in Val Gardena Gröden. The winner of the first Downhill on Thursday, Bryce Bennett rounded up the podium in third place 0.60 seconds behind Paris.
Last season Vincent Kriechmayr won the Val Gardena Super-G on an Austrian podium 1-2. After a disappointing 17th place in the first Downhill, Kriechmayr won the first Super-G of the 2023-2024 winter season at the Saslong racecourse in Val Gardena-Gröden. In a race of narrow margins, -the Top 30 were within less than a second. He beats teammate Daniel Hemetsberger by 0.02 seconds. Marco Odermatt finished in third place +0.03 seconds behind. It was the first Austrian double podium since February 6, 2021, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Val Gardena-Gröden is a Valley in Northern Italy, in the Dolomites of South Tirol.
Val Gardena and the three splendid villages of Ortisei, S. Cristina, and the picturesque Selva Gardena, surrounded by the scenery of the Dolomites, are part of the Dolomiti Superski, a world-famous network of 12 ski resorts and over 1200 km of slopes in the Dolomites, accessible with just one ski pass.
The Dolomites Val Gardena/Alpe di Siusi ski area is connected by lifts to the Sella Ronda sector of the Dolomiti Superski Pass. The Sella Ronda is probably the third-largest ski area in the world, with over 500 km of lifts.
Since 2016, the fastest racer of the Ski World Cup in Val Gardena/Gröden has won an additional prize.
The winner of the so-called DOLOMITES Val Gardena South Tyrol Ski Trophy can look forward to an authentic 3D wooden bust, extra prize money of 5,000 euros, a short stay in Val Gardena/Gröden and a climb of the Sassolungo/Langkofel accompanied by a local expert mountain guide. The DOLOMITES Val Gardena Südtirol Ski Trophy in Val Gardena/Gröden will be awarded to the racer who scores the most World Cup points in the three races.
Aleksander Aamodt Kilde has won the additional prize four times (2022, 2020, 2018, and 2017). Kjetil Jansrud, Rasmus Windingstad, and Bryce Bennett also made it onto the winners' list.
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