Bormio is a town and comune in the Lombardy region of the Alps at the center of the upper Valtellina valley. Some of the most beautiful and meaningful pages of alpine skiing were written in Bormio. This is where champions such as Deborah Compagnoni and Pietro Vitalini started their careers and some of the most beautiful and meaningful pages of alpine skiing were written.
Bormio has a well-earned reputation on the men’s circuit as being one of the most challenging Downhill races in the world with racers facing a dark, fast, bumpy, and icy ride year after year.
Alongside the Streif of Kitzbuhel, the Stelvio slope is considered to be one of the most technical and spectacular slopes in the world.
Champions of the caliber of Luc Alphand, Stephan Eberharter, Johann Grugger, Lasse Kjus, Hermann Maier, Daron Rahlves, Andreas Schifferer, Hannes Trinkl, Fritz Stobl, Bode Miller, and Michael Walchhofer have triumphed on the “Stelvio”.
It was inaugurated in 1982 for the first edition of the World Series. The course hosted two editions of the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, in 1985 and 2005. It also hosted two World Cup Finals, in 1995 and 2008. Since 1993 the Stelvio has yearly hosted the World Cup Downhill Men.
In the 2026 Winter Games, the Stelvio will be the official venue for all the Alpine Skiing Men races.
The Bormio races in the Stelvio will start on December 26 and 27 with two official trainings. On Thursday, December 28, the speed specialists will compete in the classic Downhill race. Friday, December 29, will be Super-G time.
Bormio (ITA)
December 28th Downhill / Men 11:30 CET
December 29th Super-G / Men 11:30 CET
Stelvio Racecourse facts:
Start Elevation: 2255m (Downhill)
Finish Elevation: 1,245 m
Vertical Drop: 1010 m (Downhill)
Distance: 3250m (Downhill)
Max. slope: 63 %
Dominik Paris is the King of the selective and exhausting Stelvio. The 34-year-old Italian skier won the Downhill in Bormio six times (2012, 2017, 2018, a double in 2019, and 2021). Bormio means a lot to the Südtiroler as many career highlights, including his first World Cup win, have come in the Italian ski resort. Paris set in 2021 a new record for most World Cup Downhill wins at a specific ski resort, edging Didier Cuche with five in Kitzbühel.
Paris also won a Super-G in 2018. The only male skier to have achieved more than seven victories in World Cup speed events at a single resort is Aksel Lund Svindal (8 in Lake Louise). Paris is tied in this ranking with Kjetil Jansrud (7 in Kvitfjell).
Last season, in an extremely demanding Stelvio -icy, hard rock, and dark slope-, Vincent Kriechmayr beat Canadian James Crawford and Downhill season dominator Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and celebrated his first victory in Bormio. The 32-year-old Austrian skier has won all the European Downhill Classics -Val Gardena-Gröden, Bormio, Wengen (twice) and Kitzbühel.
He can become the first Austrian to win successive downhill events in Bormio since Michael Walchhofer won two in a row in December 2006.
Last season Marco Odermatt won the last Men's race of 2022 with an outstanding performance. The Swiss outclassed the competition in the Super-G in the Stelvio and won with a lead of 0.64 seconds over Vincent Kriechmayr. Loic Meillard finished third +1.22 seconds behind his teammate.
Downhill Preview
Aleksander Aamodt Kilde was the winner of the 2021-2022, and 2022-2023 Downhill Crystal Globes. Kilde and Aksel Lund Svindal, who won the Downhill title in 2012-2013 and 2013-2014, are the only Norwegian skiers to have won the Downhill Crystal Globe more than once.
In the 2000s, Beat Feuz (4 consecutive from 2017-2018 to 2020-2021) and Stephan Eberharter (3 consecutive from 2001-2002 to 2003-2004) were the only male skiers to have won the Downhill Crystal Globe at least three times.
Kilde was the absolute dominator of the discipline in the Alpine Ski World Cup last season. The 31-year-old Attacking Viking won six of ten Men's World Cup Downhill races in the 2022-2023 season (Lake Louise, Beaver Creek, Val Gardena, Wengen, Kitzbühel, and Aspen). He is the first man to have won six World Cup Downhill events in a single season since Stephan Eberharter in 2002-2003 (6). The only skiers to win more than six World Cup Downhill events in a single season were Annemarie Moser-Pröll (8 in 1972-1973), and Franz Klammer (8 in 1974-1975).
With 21 World Cup wins, 12 of them in the Downhill, Kilde is second among Norwegian men for most World Cup Downhill wins, only behind Aksel Lund Svindal (14).
Aleksander Aamodt Kilde finished in second place behind Marco Odermatt in the Downhill at the Alpine World Ski Championships in Courchevel-Méribel.
Kilde's only podium in a Downhill World Cup event in Bormio was a third-place finish on December 28, 2022.
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.
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.
Bryce Bennett won the first Downhill race in Val Gardena-Gröden and placed third in the second race. Bennett has achieved his best results in the Dolomites ski resort: two victories, one third place, and two fourth places.
Marco Odermatt has won the Overall Crystal Globe in the last two seasons. In 2023, with a total of 2,042 points, Odermatt broke the Men's points record in a single World Cup season set by Hermann Maier (2,000) in 1999-2000.
In 2023, Marco Odermatt won in Courchevel his first Downhill race to claim the World Champion Crown at the 47th Alpine World Ski Championships thanks to a near-perfect run, especially on the technical sections of L'Eclipse racecourse. He finished ahead of Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and Cameron Alexander.
Odermatt, who has won a total of 27 World Cup races in Super-G and Giant Slalom, has never won a Downhill race. In the Men's World Cup Downhill, only Heinrich Messner (7) has claimed as many second places without ever winning as Odermatt (7).
James Crawford finished in fourth place in the Alpine Ski World Cup Downhill standings.
Last season, the 26-year-old Canadian skier claimed three podium finishes in World Cup Downhill events but has yet to win. He was third in Beaver Creek on December 3, and second in Bormio on December 28, and Aspen on March 3.
In the past eight seasons, the only Canadian man to win a World Cup Downhill race is Cameron Alexander in Kvitfjell on 4 March 2022.
Cyprien Sarrazin could become the first French skier to achieve a victory in the Men's Individual Downhill World Cup since Adrien Théaux won in Santa Caterina on December 29, 2015.
Niels Hintermann achieved the last victory for Switzerland in a Men's World Cup Downhill event. He won in the first Kvitfjell Downhill on 4 March 2022. He shared the first place in the podium with Cameron Alexander.
They were the last skiers - other than Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, Vincent Kriechmayr, or Dominik Paris - to celebrate a World Cup win.
Super-G Preview
The seven Men's World Cup Super-G events held in Bormio have been won by seven different skiers: Richard Kröll, Hermann Maier, Hannes Reichelt, Dominik Paris, Ryan Chochran-Siegle, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, and Marco Odermatt.
Marco Odermatt (9), Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (6), and Vincent Kriechmayr (4) have won each of the last 19 Men's Super-G World Cup events since Ryan Cochran-Siegle won in Bormio on December 29, 2020.
Vincent Kriechmayr won the first Super-G of the season at the Saslong racecourse in Val Gardena-Gröden. He beats teammate Daniel Hemetsberger by 0.02 seconds. Marco Odermatt finished in third place.
Vincent Kriechmayr has won eight World Cup Super-G events, second-most among Austrian men, behind Hermann Maier (24). Last season he only finished on the podium in the Super-G once, in Bormio on December 29. The 32-year-old Austrian skier has been the mark of consistency in the discipline. He has finished Top-3 in the Alpine Ski World Cup Super-G standings in each of the last six seasons.
Marco Odermatt won the Super-G Crystal Globe in the 2022-2023 winter season.
Last season Marco Odermatt was the absolute dominator of the discipline. He won six of the eight Men's World Cup Super-G races and finished on the podium in the other two, second in Beaver Creek, and third in Wengen. Odermatt has recorded 16 podium finishes in his last 19 participations in super-G races in the World Cup.
The 26-year-old Swiss Ace has equaled the Men's record for most successive World Cup victories in the Super-G: four by Hermann Maier in the 1997-1998 and 1998-1999 seasons and by Aksel Lund Svindal from December 2012 to December 2013.
He is also the fifth man to win at least 10 World Cup Super-G World Cup races, after Hermann Maier (24), Aksel Lund Svindal (17), Kjetil Jansrud (13), and Pirmin Zurbriggen (10).
Aleksander Aamodt Kilde won the Super-G Crystal Globe in the 2015-2016, and 2021-2022 seasons. Kilde is the seventh skier to have won the Super-G Crystal Globe more than once, and the third from Norway after Aksel Lund Svindal (5) and Kjetil Jansrud (3).
Kilde was the only man besides Marco Odermatt to win a World Cup Super-G event last season. He won in Beaver Creek and Wengen.
The 31-year-old has won nine World Cup Super-G events in the Alpine Ski World Cup.
James Crawford became world champion in the Men's Super-G at the 47th Alpine World Ski Championships in Courchevel on February 9, ahead of Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (silver), and Alexis Pinturault (bronze).
Alexis Pinturault finished in third place in the Super-G at the 47th Alpine World Ski Championships in Courchevel. The Frenchman had already won bronze in the Super-G at the World Championships in Cortina 2021.
Listen to the following Podcast if you want to know more about one of the toughest Downhills on the World Cup Calendar.