Hahnenkamm race in Kitzbühel
The Streif myth: the most dangerous ski race in the world
From the dream of winning in Kitzbühel: In 2016 the Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal was the favorite in the Streif, but she threw him from below the Hausbergkante. The result: cruciate ligament and meniscus tear in the right knee.
© Pressefoto ULMER / Markus Ulmer / / Picture Alliance
No downhill race pulls fans and athletes under its spell like the legendary Streif in Kitzbühel. If you want to win here, you have to take the full risk – and accept the end of your career for this. From the greatest spectacle in the ski circus.
It is considered the most demanding, dangerous and most brutal descent in the world: the Streif in Kitzbühel. No other ski event casts its spell over fans and athletes alike like the 3312 meter long torture for bones and material in the northeast of the Alpine republic of Austria. For the spectators, the race, which was first held in 1937, is above all a spectacle. One that has long been a myth because of its danger, the inevitable falls and of course its heroes and losers.
The Streif does not forgive mistakes
For the athletes themselves, the Streif is the proverbial ride on the razor blade. Even the tiniest mistake on the piste, which is completely compacted with artificial snow and accordingly icy, can mean the end of the season. In the worst case, destroy a career that has been built up over the years. There are plenty of examples of this. Especially since the route demands everything of the muscle-packed men on the narrow slats from the start – mentally and physically. The starting shot is already tough. Although only 160 meters long, the drivers here accelerate to almost 100 kilometers per hour within a few seconds before they plunge into the vertical “mousetrap” with an 85 percent gradient with a jump of up to 80 meters. “That’s how you have to feel when you jump out of a plane without a parachute,” said five-time overall World Cup winner and ex-professional Marc Giradelli about the Streif. And the Luxembourger should know: in the 1980s and 1990s he won the slalom and the combined three times. In 1989 he even won one of the three downhill victories of his career on the Streif.
A crowd puller: The Streif attracts up to 50,000 people to the route every year – including numerous celebrities from all over the world
© Picture Alliance
Debutants are also scared of the hard bends and compressions, the steep slopes and high-speed jumps. At its premiere, he would have “preferred to leave the start house at the back”, admitted the Swiss Didier Cuche to reporters. “But I also didn’t want to be the one who takes the gondola down to the valley.” Today ski retiree Cuche is the sole record champion of Kitzbühel with five wins. Stephan Eberharter from Austria (winner in 2002 and 2004) even spoke of “fear of death” when he first dared to take part in the most important ski race alongside the Olympic downhill in 1991.
Nothing works in Kitzbühel without experience
The fact that in Eberharter’s case it took eleven years to achieve the first victory testifies to the technical demands of the event, which is often referred to as the “Hell ride”. “95 percent is not enough for the Streif. You have to be able to give everything to drive it. Otherwise it will throw you off”, explained the Canadian Erik Guay after his second place in 2013. If you want to win in Kitzbühel, you need to be prepared to take risks So one thing above all: experience.
Drivers who have fallen are usually flown to nearby clinics by helicopter
© Picture Alliance
But even the best in their field, like Aksel Lund Svindal, Olympic champion and two-time downhill world champion, reach their limits on the Streif. In 2016, the Norwegian, who has since retired from professional sport, entered the race as one of the favorites. It ended up in the hospital for him. After jumping over the “Hausbergkante” it catapulted him from the piste, clearly visible to all spectators in the finish area, and into the safety fences with full force. Svindal was able to pull himself up, but his season was over. The diagnosis was cruciate ligament and meniscus tear in the right knee. Because Hannes Reichelt, another top driver, had fallen at the same point shortly before, the organizers canceled the event.
When the media and officials subsequently discussed whether the Streif – although it was already slightly defused in 2016 – was still acceptable in this way, Svindal of all people did not understand the excitement. “It’s pretty annoying in the middle of the season, but that’s life. There are ups and downs and you just have to deal with that.”
Thomas Dreßen dreamed of victory as a child
Svindal’s words show how important the race is among professionals. They know about the danger – and they willingly take it because – apart from the Laubehorn run in Wengen – there is no comparable challenge on the ski circuit. Whoever wins the Streif has made it; enjoys the greatest possible respect among colleagues.
Thomas Dreßen is one of the select circle of Kitzbühel winners. 39 years after the last success of a German, the man from Garmisch-Partenkirchen raced to the finish line as the fastest in 2018. Dreßen didn’t want to know that he was now a legend. The other winners have this status for him, but he is not a legend, but “still the normal guy who likes to ski,” said Dreßen in an interview. “It was just a dream for me from an early age to win the downhill in Kitzbühel one day.”
“The best always win on the Streif”
This year too, those who combine their skills with the greatest portion of risk will ultimately prevail. Because as Svindal once said: “At the Olympics there can also be a chance winner. The Streif always wins the best.”
+++ Do you want to get your own impression of the Streif? In 2016, a professional equipped with a 360-degree camera rushed down the track for the radio station “Hitradio Ö3”. You can relive his “hell ride” from the driver’s point of view in the following video. Tip: View the recording on your tablet or smartphone. +++
