Johan Clarey sets a speed record on the Lauberhorn with 161.9 km / h

Unforgotten

There is never anyone faster on a World Cup slope than Johan Clarey on the Lauberhorn

January 19, 2013: If the police had spotted him on a Swiss motorway, his ID would have been lost. Johan Clarey flies through the Hanegg Schuss at 161.9 km / h – it is the highest speed ever recorded in the Ski World Cup.

“It was just a marginal aspect,” Johan Clarey remembers the Lauberhorn downhill run on January 19, 2013. Nevertheless, the Frenchman still gets wet hands when he thinks back on the race. At 161.9 km / h it races through the Hanegg Schuss. “It was a great feeling, unbelievable!”

At no point did it become scary for him, says the now 40-year-old downhill skier, looking back. Clarey finished fifth in Wengen. The victory goes to the Italian Christof Innerhofer, who, when asked, claims to have kept the pace of his competitor as hell: “We’re going downhill and not giant slalom.”

FIS race director Hujara is annoyed

The rush of speed pleases the downhill skiers themselves, but not the world association. For safety reasons, the FIS is against a record hunt, accordingly Clarey’s brand does not have the status of a world record. “This is a crazy discussion that was only launched by the media,” complains FIS race director Günter Hujara.

For years, the World Cup was deliberately not measured at the point with the highest speed, but where the speed is a little less high. Clarey’s badge comes because in 2013 the “tin policeman” was at the very end of the Hanegg shot. Hannes Reichelt can also be happy about being the fastest Austrian: “I was the only one with more than 160 km / h. I think that ‘zips’ at the others ‘right’. “

World record on skis at 254.958 km / h

The question of who is the fastest person on skis is not answered in the World Cup anyway. Speed ​​skiing is all about top speed. Since spring 2016, the world record has stood at 254.958 km / h, set by the Italian Ivan Origone.

In 1992, the marginal sport figured as a demonstration competition in the program of the Albertville Olympic Games. But a death of the Swiss Nicolas Bochatay overshadows the competition: He races off the speed ski track in a snowcat.