We rummaged through our archives and unearthed some incredible stories that took place in Val Gardena 10, 20, 30, 40, and even 50 years ago.

1975
Later than ever before, Val Gardena hosts the Ski World Cup Finals this year. It is an epic finale. Before the final decision, the parallel slalom, the three best skiers are tied for first place with 240 points each. They are Franz Klammer (Austria), winner of the downhill two days earlier, Ingemar Stenmark (Sweden), and Gustav Thöni from South Tyrol (Italy). Klammer is immediately eliminated. This means that the decision will be between Stenmark and Thöni, who actually make it to the final and face each other in a duel of the giants in front of 40,000 spectators. In the end, local idol Thöni triumphs and secures the overall World Cup title for the fourth time. The women’s parallel slalom is won by Austria’s Monika Kaserer, and the women’s slalom by Lise-Marie Morerod (Switzerland).

1985
Ten years later, Peter Wirnsberger’s big moment arrives on the Saslong. The Austrian, who came second at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, wins the downhill. With his triumph on the now legendary South Tyrolean World Cup course, the Styrian lays the foundation for winning the small crystal globe in the 1985/86 season. In Val Gardena, Peter Müller from Switzerland and Sepp Wildgruber from Germany take second and third place on 14 December 1985. Müller goes on to win the Val Gardena downhill three times before the end of his career, while for Wildgruber it is the last of a total of three top-three results in his career.

1995
Patrick Ortlieb is an Olympic champion and world champion – two titles that many ski racers can only dream of. And because of this, one might think that the Austrian also won a large number of races in the World Cup. But this assumption is wrong. Ortlieb “only” wins four World Cup races (three in the downhill and one in the super-G), partly due to the relatively early end of his career at the age of 32 because of injury.
He celebrates the last World Cup victory of his career on December 16, 1995, in the Val Gardena downhill, when he relegates Switzerland’s Xavier Gigandet and Luc Alphand from France to second and third place, respectively. It is Ortlieb’s second victory on the Saslong; he had already triumphed in the downhill here in 1993.

2005
Since the 2002/2003 season, the World Cup program on the Saslong has included a super-G and a downhill race every year. This program has remained unchanged to this day and was also held in December 2005. In the super-G on 16 December, Hans Grugger gives himself a slightly belated 24th birthday present. The North Tyrolean wins ahead of Canada’s Erik Guay and Ambrosi Hoffmann from Switzerland, celebrating his third World Cup victory overall and his first in the super-G.
What applies to Grugger in the super-G also applies to Marco Büchel in the downhill just 24 hours later. The Liechtensteiner prevails ahead of Michael Walchhofer from Austria and Guay once again. Walchhofer makes history that day with an 88-meter jump over the Camel Humps – a record!

2015
If you take the number of victories in both disciplines as a benchmark, then Aksel Lund Svindal is the most successful racer on the Saslong. The Norwegian has stood on the top step of the podium in Val Gardena seven times. In 2015, he achieves something that no other racer before him had ever accomplished in the South Tyrolean classic: he wins both the super-G and the downhill—after also setting the fastest time in both training runs.
And as if that weren’t historic enough, three Norwegians stand on the podium in the super-G. Coincidentally, the third-place finisher from back then is still competing today: Aleksander Aamodt Kilde returns to one of his favorite places this year after an injury break. With five victories (three downhill, two super-G), he is hot on Svindal’s heels.