The 28-year-old alpine skier claimed his first World Cup win last winter in Kitzbühel, Austria.
Earlier this week, Canadian James Crawford received a distinct honor—his own gondola cabin—in acknowledgement of his big downhill win in Kitzbühel, Austria, this past winter, continuing a unique local tradition.
Crawford, 28, claimed first place in the World Cup downhill competition in January 2025 on the Streif, a famously challenging course that’s part of the broader Hahnenkamm races in Kitzbühel.
To honor the Hahnenkamm winners, the ski resort emblazons their names on one of its gondolas, the Hahnenkammbahn. The gondola cabins also carry the names of Kitzbuehler Ski Club members who are Olympic or world champions, like biathlete Lisa Hauser.
On Tuesday, July 29, Crawford visited Kitzbühel, seeing the gondola with his name in person during a ceremony. “I had to start 17 times in Kitzbühel before finally winning. Words can hardly describe what this means to me,” said Crawford. The Streif victory marked Crawford’s first-ever World Cup win.
“May the course always stay as icy and intimidating; that’s what makes the Streif so unique. As long as it stays that way, I’ll gladly come back every year and take the risk,” he added. Alexander Cameron, another Canadian, stood alongside Crawford on the downhill podium in January.
Check out a brief moment from the ceremony below. Tap or click to play the video.
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Photo: HARALD SCHNEIDER/APA/AFP via Getty Images
The Tuesday ceremony also acknowledged Canadian Ken Read, who won on the Streif in 1980. While Read’s honorary gondola has spun since 1996, an official induction hadn’t taken place until now, celebrating the 69-year-old alpine racer.
The Streif looms large in the imagination of ski racing fans and competitors alike. It’s considered to be one of the most challenging World Cup downhill courses, testing racers’ strength, willpower, and endurance. It spans nearly 11,000 feet and has a vertical drop of almost 3,000 feet.
For much of its history, only men have raced on the Streif, but this past winter, in March, women officially returned to the course for the first time in more than 60 years during the European Cup, which included two super-G races.
Outside of competition, American alpine racing Lindsey Vonn also blazed down the Streif in 2023, at night.
Related: The 10 Weirdest Ski Ads We Could Find in Old Copies of POWDER Magazine
Winners of This Ski Race Are Immortalized With Their Own Gondola Car first appeared on Powder on Jul 31, 2025
Category: General Sports
