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, 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.
Downhill. Saturday, January 29th. 11:30 (CET)
Super-G. Sunday, January 30th. 11:30 (CET)
The Kandahar run in Garmisch-Partenkirchen is one of the most demanding races in the Alpine Ski World Cup.
Kandahar racecourse Profile (Women)
Start Elevation: 1490m
Finish Elevation: 770 m
Vertical Drop: 720m
Distance: 2920m
Last season Lara Gut-Behrami won the two Super-G races held in Garmisch. It's also her fourth win in the German town of Bayern (she won also in 2016 and 2017).
The weekend in Garmisch is marked by absences, due to technical decisions or injuries, some of the big names in the World Cup will not participate, such as Sofia Goggia, Lara Gut-Behrami, Ester Ledecka, Mikaela Shiffrin, Petra Vlhova, or Breezy Johnson.
Goggia, Gut-Behrami, and Johnson took eight out of ten first and second places in the Downhill this winter.
Ramona Siebenhofer is ranked second in this season's World Cup Downhill standings, 136 points behind Sofia Goggia who will not participate this weekend.
Siebenhofer finished on the podium in the last two Downhill events held in the World Cup: third in Zauchensee and second in Cortina d'Ampezzo. She also finished fourth in this season's races in Lake Louise (3 December) and Val d'Isère.
The only Austrian women to win the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Downhill in the World Cup are Annemarie Moser-Pröll (1977) and Stephanie Venier (2019).
Corinne Suter finished in the top eight in 14 of her last 15 World Cup Downhill participations, including seven podiums.
Since the start of the 2018-2019 season, Suter collected a joint-record 11 Downhill podiums in the women's World Cup, alongside Sofia Goggia (11).
Kira Weidle finished second in the World Cup Downhill event in Zauchensee to record her best finish in a World Cup event (any discipline). It was her fourth podium in the World Cup, all in the Downhill. Weidle was the silver medalist in Cortina.
The two German women to have won the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Downhill in the World Cup are Maria Höfl-Riesch (2010) and Viktoria Rebensburg (2020).
Rebensburg's win in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on 8 February 2020 is Germany's last Downhill victory in the women's World Cup.
Mirjam Puchner claimed third place in Lake Louise on 3 December and in Val d'Isère on 18 December. Her most recent World Cup Downhill win was in Soldeu on 13 March 2019.
The last Italian woman other than Sofia Goggia to win a World Cup Downhill was Elena Curtoni in Bansko on 25 January 2020.
In the last four World Cup Downhill events held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, an Italian woman finished second: Sofia Goggia in 2018 (2) and in 2019, and Federica Brignone in 2020. The only Italian woman to win in Garmisch in the World Cup was Isolde Kostner in 1994.
Italian women make up the top three in the 2021-2022 World Cup Super-G standings: Federica Brignone (377), Elena Curtoni (348), and Sofia Goggia (332). No country ever swept the women's overall super-G podium.
Brignone can become the first woman from Italy to win the Super-G crystal globe. She has already won the Overall globe (2019-2020), the Giant Slalom globe (2019-2020), and two Globes in the Alpine Combined (2018-2019, 2019-2020).
Federica Brignone (2), Sofia Goggia (2), and Elena Curtoni (1) won five of the six Super-G events held this World Cup season. The only non-Italian woman to claim a World Cup super-G event this season is Lara Gut-Behrami, who won in St. Moritz on 11 December.
Tamara Tippler finished on eight World Cup Super-G podiums (including one in Garmisch-Partenkirchen) but never won. This is currently the women's record for most podium finishes without ever winning in this discipline. Tippler finished second in Cortina d'Ampezzo last week.
Swiss women won five of the last six World Cup Super-G events held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen: Lara Gut-Behrami (4) and Corinne Suter (1).
One more thing. I recommend you, if you love ski racing, to listen to this interesting episode of the Ski Racing Podcast
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