78TH INFERNO-RACES 2021 WITH A STRONG INTERNATIONAL FIELD SOLD OUT

The 78^th International Inferno-Races from January 20^th -23^rd 2021 are now sold out. Around 300 more competitors have registered for the downhill race than the maximum number of participants allowed. Numerous top ski racers from Switzerland and abroad will be in the starting gate.

The 78^th Inferno-Races from 20^th -23^rd January 2021 are fully booked. Over 2150 registrations were received for the downhill. The field of participants is limited to a maximum of 1850 competitors. Registrations were submitted from a total of 24 nations and 25 Swiss cantons. For the women’s downhill, the eight-time record winner Marianne Rubi from Grindelwald is at the start. Four-time downhill winner Nicole Bärtschi and the winner of 2012 and 2017, Nadine Züger-Mächler, will also have a say in the matter. The three Swiss women are challenged by last year's silver medallist Chemmy Alcott from Great Britain. The former top World Cup rider was only 82 hundredths of a second behind Rubi in 2020, but she was racing with two film cameras for the BBC.

Numerous men's Inferno winners at the start

Numerous Inferno Downhill winners are also at the start for the men’s race: Last year's winner Ruedi Brawand from Grindelwald will try to defend his title. He is hunted by, among others, the three-time winner Mathias Salzmann from Naters, Brian Brog from Meiringen or the Central Swiss Felix Tschümperlin and Marco Michel. They have all been able to win the downhill race in recent years. The six-time record winner Heinz Fringer from Arosa will also take part in 2021.

Strong challengers with World Cup experience

In the coming edition, there will also be strong challengers with World Cup experience and we will probably have a duel between Switzerland and Austria for the first time: Josef “Pepi” Strobl from Austria will take part in the Inferno for the first time. In his career he achieved 7 World Cup victories and 22 podium places, making him one of the most successful ski racers in Austria. Strobl has already won the Austrian counterpart to the Inferno race, the White Ring in Lech, three times in a row. Strobl will start in the Doppelmayr Racing Team, which is considered the favourite for victory in the team championship. Mathias Gorbach and Riccardo Rädler, two more serial winners of the Austrian popular ski races and top contenders for the main event will also be in the Doppelmayr Racing Team. Two former successful Skicross World Cup competitors from Switzerland will also be in action: Richard Spalinger, the 2008 World Cup podium racer (Flaine (F)) and Conradign Netzer, three-time podium placed in the Ski Cross World Cup and Swiss Ski Cross champion 2011, both took part in the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver (CAN). Long-time World Cup rider and last year's seventh placed Dougie Crawford from Great Britain will take part and former Formula 1 world champion and 22-time Formula 1 winner Damon Hill will also compete in the upcoming edition after making their debuts in 2020. Philippe Steiner and his Deaf-Racer team will also be competing despite all being deaf. "There will be an absolute top-class, international field of competitors," confirms Christoph Egger, OC President of the Inferno-Races. "We're looking forward to an incredibly exciting race in January 2021"

The OC expects the Inferno Races to be held regularly in 2021. Nevertheless, it has created a plan B, which among other things includes the division of the downhill race over two days. The OK Inferno Race reported on this in detail in an earlier report.