On Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th, January 2024 Garmisch-Partenkirchen will host two Super-G World Cup races on the famous Kandahar slope.
Germany’s highest mountain, Germany’s steepest ski slope - the legendary Kandahar-Downhill racecourse-, or Germany’s most spectacular cable car are some of the reasons to watch the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Alpine Ski World Cup Races next weekend.
Garmisch-Partenkirchen is a ski town in Bavaria, southern Germany, which borders Austria. It is located at the foot of Zugspitze, Germany's highest mountain (2,962 meters a.s.l.).
Garmisch-Partenkirchen the former twin cities "under the Zugspitze", is one of the most famous ski resorts of the whole alpine region. The Bavarian town hosted the Olympic Winter Games in 1936, the Arlberg Kandahar races since 1954, the FIS Ski World Cups since 1970, the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in 1978 and 2011, and the FIS Alpine Junior World Ski Championships in 2009. For that reason, Garmisch-Partenkirchen is been considered the cradle of ski racing in Germany.
Garmisch Partenkirchen (GER)
January 27th Super-G / Men 11:45 CET
January 28th Super-G / Men 11:30 CET
The Kandahar in Garmisch is considered one of the most demanding race courses in the Alpine Ski World Cup. The slope became one of the five venues for the Arlberg-Kandahar race, named after Frederick Roberts, the Earl of Kandahar.
The Briton Frederick Roberts, Baron Roberts of Kandahar and Waterford, donated a trophy for a ski race in 1911 called the “Challenge Roberts of Kandahar”. The race was held in the Austrian town of St. Anton am Arlberg in the 1920s. Garmisch-Partenkirchen has been the venue for the traditional Arlberg-Kandahar races since 1954.
The Kandahar 1, Women's Downhill and Super-G slope, starts on the Tröglhang at 1,490 meters above sea level (The Men's Downhill start of the Kandahar 2 is located at Kreuzjoch at 1,690 meters above sea level) and largely runs along the old Men's slope: After the Schußanger with its two curves comes a jump into the Himmelreich, where the start of the Super-G is located. The Waldeck with the highest gradient is a technically demanding traverse. Here a new route has begun since the adaptations in 2008: the Eishang is bypassed via the Ramwiesen, and via the Höllentor it goes back to the original Kandahar in the Hölle (Hell), a steep slope. This is followed by the FIS-Schneise, a diagonal route that, after a left-foot bend, flows into the Tauber-Schuss.
Kandahar Racecourse facts:
Start Elevation: 1308 m
Finish Elevation: 770 m
Vertical Drop: 538 m
Length: 2180 m
Max. slope: 85 %
Super-G Races Preview
In 2021 Vincent Kriechmayr won the last Men's Super-G held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen ahead of teammate Matthias Mayer. Third place went to Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt, who finished 0.49 seconds off the winning time.
Cyprien Sarrazin dominated the last Super-G race in Wengen by a respectable margin of 0.58 seconds over big favorite Marco Odermatt. The Norwegian Aleksander Kilde completed the podium one second behind.
The Frenchman celebrated his first victory in Super-G in his 13th participation in a World Cup race in this speed discipline.
The 29-year-old French skier is the 7th skier to achieve a double victory on the Streif. He confirmed in Kitzbühel what he showed in Bormio, and Wengen, and achieved his third victory in the Downhill this season and his fifth podium in five speed races in Wengen and Kitzbühel.
Marco Odermatt won the Super-G Crystal Globe in the 2022-2023 winter season.
Odermatt won the second Super-G of the season in Bormio, with another outstanding performance. The 26-year-old Swiss outclassed the competition in the Super-G in the Stelvio and won with a lead of 0.98 seconds over Raphael Haaser. Aleksander Aamodt Kilde finished third +1.31 seconds behind.
Odermatt has won five of the last seven Men's Super-G World Cup races and finished third in Val Gardena, and second in Kitzbuhel.
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 18 podium finishes, including 10 wins, in his last 21 participations in super-G races in the World Cup.
The 26-year-old Swiss Ace is also the fourth man to win at least 11 World Cup Super-G World Cup races, after Hermann Maier (24), Aksel Lund Svindal (17), and Kjetil Jansrud (13).
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.
Kriechmayr can win more than one World Cup Super-G event in a single season for the fourth time, following 2017-2018 (2), 2019-2020 (2), and 2020-2021 (2).
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.
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).
Raphael Haaser finished second in the last World Cup Super-G event in Bormio on December 29, matching his previous best World Cup result, second also in the Bormio Super-G back in 2021.
Daniel Hemetsberger, second in Val Gardena and third in Cortina d'Ampezzo, was the only man other than Marco Odermatt (7) and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (5) with more than one World Cup Super-G podium finish in 2023.