Where to Ski And Snowboard - Kitzbühel ups stakes for 80th Hahnenkamm

Kitzbühel ups stakes for 80th Hahnenkamm

13th November 2019, by Abi Butcher

Kitzbühel is offering a record €100,000 top prize for the 80th Hahnenkamm in January 2020

The organisers of one of ski racing’s most famous races, the Hahnenkamm, have announced a record prize fund for next year’s event — the 80th anniversary.

The Austrian ski resort of Kitzbühel will pay €100,000 euros to the both the winner of the Hahnenkamm downhill and the winner of the Hahnenkamm slalom races in January 2020. The total prize fund for the Hahnenkamm races is the biggest for any World Cup event, up 25 per cent on last year’s winnings to a total of €725,000.

“We don’t want to invest the budget for the 80th Hahnenkamm races into a jubilee party, but the local ski club prefers to set an example for the athletes,” said chief organizer Michael Huber.

The average prize for World Cup races sits at just €45,000 — so next year’s Hahnenkamm is more than double what racers ordinarily expect. And no wonder, when the Kitzbühel races are the biggest sporting event in Austria and attract millions of TV viewers. The races are held every January on Kitzbühel’s famous Streif — reportedly the toughest World Cup course in the world.

British skier Dave Ryding won silver in the Hahnenkamm slalom in 2017.

Read Where to Ski & Snowboard‘s independent review of Kitzbühel here.