Saslong
| Saslong | |
|---|---|
| Place: | Val Gardena/Gröden |
| Mountain: | Langkofel, Dolomites |
| Member: | Club5+ |
| Opened: | 1969 |
| Level: | expert |
| Downhill | |
| Start: | 2,249 m (7,379 ft) (AA) |
| Finish: | 1,410 m (4,626 ft) |
| Vertical drop: | 839 m (2,753 ft) |
| Length: | 3.446 km (2.14 mi) |
| Max. incline: | 29.6 degrees (56.9%) |
| Avg. incline: | 13.8 degrees (24.5%) |
| Min. incline: | 6.4 degrees (11.2%) |
| Most wins (M): | Franz Klammer (4x) Kristian Ghedina (4x) |
| Most wins (L): | Ilka Štuhec (1x) |
| Super-G | |
| Start: | 2,000 m (6,562 ft) (AA) |
| Finish: | 1,410 m (4,626 ft) |
| Vertical drop: | 590 m (1,936 ft) |
| Length: | 2.365 km (1.47 mi) |
| Max. incline: | 29.6 degrees (56.9%) |
| Avg. incline: | 14.0 degrees (24.9%) |
| Min. incline: | 6.5 degrees (11.4%) |
| Most wins (M): | Aksel Lund Svindal (5x) |
| Most wins (L): | Ilka Štuhec (1x) |
Saslong is a World Cup downhill ski course in Italy just above Val Gardena/Gröden. Located on the Langkofel in the Dolomites, the race course made its World Cup debut in February 1969.[1] The ski course is named after the mountain Saslonch (German: Langkofel, Italian: Sassolungo) with an adapted spelling.
Franz Klammer and Kristian Ghedina won record 4 downhills and Aksel Lund Svindal record 5 super-G's.
Course sections
Spinel
This section starts as a very difficult jump short after the start, into the steepest section (56.9% gradient), then virtual change direction in mid-air to compression.
Saut dl Moro
A forty-metre (130 ft) jump which takes skiers into the second compression.
Looping
Muri di Sochers
This section starts as a Fifteen-to-twenty-metre (49 to 66 ft) jump in the air, followed by a flat, yet intense, left-right-left gate combination ending at the 1st Mauer ("Wall").
Skiers jump ca. 35 metres (115 ft) directly to the 1st Mauer and have to sway to the right to the 2nd Mauer.
The jump on the 2nd Mauer contemporaneously serves as the entry into the flat section leading to the first Camel Hump with top speed at about 130 km/h (81 mph).
Gobbe del Cammello (Camel Humps)
The Camel Humps represent the most spectacular section of the Saslong. They were named by the late and former Austrian FIS TD Sepp Sulzberger. Uli Spiess from Austria was the first athlete to attempt and succeed in jumping all three Humps at the same time instead of taking each jump separately.
Since Spiess' premiere, skiers today mostly absorb the first jump (a.k.a. "Girardelli Line") and leap from the second over the third. The record jump belongs to Austrian skier Michael Walchhofer who leaped 88 metres (289 ft) reaching a height of 4–5 meters in 2003.
Ciaslat
This section its corrugated ripples and bumps is where the race is often decided. In this extremely and technically very demanding section of the course racers face overall 17 different ripples.
Nucia (Tunnel)
Skiers take the Nucia jump into the final schuss following the exit from Ciaslat.
Schuss
The last and finals section of the course starts with jump that owes its name to the new tunnel that runs below the Final schuss and is part of the new street by-passing St.Christina which was opened in 2009.
World Cup
The first downhill winner in 1969 was Jean-Daniel Dätwyler (SUI), and this annual ski event is part of the prestigious Saslong Classic competition. Saslong hosted the World Championships in 1970, which also counted for 1970 World Cup season points and wins/podiums statistics.
On 23 March 1975, Saslong hosted the first parallel slalom in history, Gustav Thöni won in front of 40,000, beating Ingemar Stenmark in the final.[2]
| Downhill start | Upper section 1 | Upper section 2 | Intermediate section |
|---|---|---|---|
| Werner Heel (2013) | Bode Miller (2006) | Final section | Finish area |
Men
World Championships, also counted for World Cup.
Not part of classic Saslong competition. It only replaced Lake Louise (2001), Beaver Creek (2022), Zermatt-Cervinia (2023)
Women
| No. | Type | Season | Date | Winner | Second | Third |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1611 | DH | 2018/19 | 18 December 2018 | Ilka Štuhec | Tina Weirather Nicole Schmidhofer |
|
| 1612 | SG | 19 December 2018 | Ilka Štuhec | Nicol Delago | Ramona Siebenhofer |
Club5+
In 1986, elite Club5 was originally founded by prestigious classic downhill organizers: Kitzbühel, Wengen, Garmisch, Val d’Isère and Val Gardena/Gröden, with goal to bring alpine ski sport on the highest levels possible.[3]
Later over the years other classic longterm organizers joined the now named Club5+: Alta Badia, Cortina, Kranjska Gora, Maribor, Lake Louise, Schladming, Adelboden, Kvitfjell, St.Moritz and Åre.[4]
References
- ^ "Facts & Infos of race-slope". saslong.org. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
- ^ "Spet Thöni (page 9)" (in Slovenian). Delo. 24 March 1975.
- ^ "Srečko Medven predsednik elitnega združenje (page 9)" (in Slovenian). Naše novice. June 2010.
- ^ "Club5+ workshop in Adelboden". saslong.org. 23 October 2021.
External links
- Official website
- FIS Alpine Ski World Cup – Val Gardena, Italy
- Ski-db.com - Val Gardena men's races