Next Saturday, the 85th Hahnenkamm Alpine Ski World Cup Downhill will be held on the infamous Streif in Kitzbuehel. The Hahnenkamm racecourse, the Streif (or the "Stripe"), is considered one of the most demanding runs of the World Cup Downhill calendar.
85 Hahnenkamm Downhill. Kitzbühel (AUT)
January 25th Downhill / Men 11:30 CET
The speed season kicked off at the Birds of Prey racetrack with a big surprise in store. Justin Murisier secured his first Alpine Ski World Cup victory by winning the World Cup Downhill at Beaver Creek. Starting with bib number 3, Murisier skied a solid run from top to bottom with hardly any mistakes. The 32-year-old Swiss skier previously achieved his only podium finish in the Giant Slalom in Alta Badia in 2020. His best Downhill result was 4th place in Bormio last season. Teammate Marco Odermatt finished in second place, just 0.20 seconds behind.
The 57th Saslong Classic in Val Gardena closed with a big bang for the Swiss Team. Marco Odermatt led a 1-2 Swiss podium ahead of teammate Franjo von Allmen. Odermatt won the Downhill thanks to a superb performance in the Ciaslat sector. It was the first victory for Switzerland in Val Gardena since Silvan Zurbriggen's victory in 2010. The defending Downhill and Overall World Cup champion won for the first time on the Saslong racecourse.
The third Downhill of the season ended with the third Swiss double podium. 24-year-old Alexis Monney with start number 19 won the Alpine Ski World Cup Downhill in Bormio. He finished 0.24 hundredths ahead of teammate Franjo von Allmen. Canadian Alexander Cameron rounded up the podium in third place 0.79 seconds behind the Swiss.
Monney showed his potential setting the third-fastest time in the first training session. His previous best World Cup result was 8th place in kitzbühel last season. In Bormio, he celebrates not only his first podium but also his first victory.
Last weekend, the fourth Downhill of the 2024-2025 winter season in Wengen saw the Swiss team claim their fourth one-two finish.
Marco Odermatt claimed in the Lauberhorn his second victory of the season in the Downhill after his win in Val Gardena. He finished ahead of his teammate Franjo Von Allmen. Miha Hrobat from Slovenia rounded up the podium in third place.
After winning the season's first four races, Swiss skiers cop the first three places in the Downhill standings: Marco Odermatt (325 points), Franjo Von Allmen (243), and Justin Murisier (178).
This year's Downhill will be marked by the absence of double winner in 2024 Cyprien Sarrazin, Vincent Kriechmayr, and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde.
The last five World Cup Downhill races on the Streif were won by Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (2), Vincent Kriechmayr, and Cyprien Sarrazin (2).
Austria has won the World Cup Downhill event in Kitzbühel a record 25 times. Austria and Switzerland (19) are the only countries to have won at the Streif more than six times.
The Austrian Ski Team only achieved three Top-10 places in the first four Downhills of the season.
In the 2023-2024 winter season, the Austrian Ski Team achieved only one podium place (Vincent Kriechmayr second in Kvitfjell), and in the Downhill standings only Kriechmayr (4th) made it into the Top-10 (Stefan Babinsky was 15th). The 33-year-old is the only skier in the team to have ever won a World Cup Downhill. All these facts make the Austria Ski Downhill Team the weakest Downhill team in almost four decades. You have to look back to the 1987-1988 winter season to find similarly dismal performances by the Austrian Downhill skiers.
Marco Odermatt won the Men’s Downhill Crystal Globe last season. It's Odermatt’s first Downhill Globe. The Swiss ski Ace also won the Super-G title and secured the speed double. The last Swiss skier to win the Downhill Crystal Globe was Beat Feuz, who won four between 2017-2018 and 2020-2021.
The reigning world champion in the Men's Downhill added the World Cup title to his Overall, Super-G, and Giant Slalom Globes. The last man to win at least four World Cup Crystal Globes in a single season was Hermann Maier in 1999-2000 and 2001-2001 (Overall, Downhill, Giant Slalom, and Super-G in both seasons).
The only Swiss man to win at least four World Cup classifications in a single season was Pirmin Zurbriggen in 1986-1987. He won the Overall, Combination, Super-G, Downhill, and Giant Slalom titles.
Odermatt has finished on the podium at the Kitzbuehel Downhill three times: second in 2022, and third and second in the two Downhills held on the Streif in 2024.
Last season Dominik Paris won the second Downhill held in Val Gardena-Gröden. It was the 22nd career World Cup victory for the 34-year-old Italian skier. It was the first victory for Paris in Val Gardena Gröden.
Paris finished in third place on the Downhill standings last season. It was the sixth time he finished in third place in the downhill rankings for Paris. His best result was second in the 2018-2019 winter season.
With 18 victories in Downhill, Dominik Paris is the active male skier who won the most Downhill events in the World Cup. Only Franz Klammer (25), Peter Müller (19), and Stephan Eberharter (18) have won as many World Cup Downhill events among Men as Paris.
Italian skiers have won the downhill race on the Streif five times: Dominik Paris (2013, 2017, 2019), Kristian Ghedina (1998) and Peter Fill (2016).
Only Didier Cuche, with five victories, and Franz Klammer, with four, have won the World Cup Downhill race in Kitzbuehel more than three times.
Update 01.21.2025: Alexis Monney set the fastest time in the first Downhill training session in Kitzbuehel. Stefan Babinsky finished in second place 0.15 seconds behind the Swiss. Canadian Cameron Alexander (+0.40) and Italian Christof Innerhofer (+0.44) took third and fourth place.
Update 01.22.2025: Italian Mattia Casse finished in first place in the second Downhill training ahead of Stefan Eichberger (+0.54 seconds), the Norwegian Adrian Smiseth Sejersted (0.61) and Daniel Hemetsberger (0.64).
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