Premiere for Team USA in the Juniors Race

Talents from eight nations compete for the title at the LONGINES Future Hahnenkamm Champions in the top-level junior race on the Ganslern. Girls and boys from the USA have also travelled to the event for the first time. Austria is providing three teams. The race can be watched on livestream.

The LONGINES Future Hahnenkamm Champions, or Juniors Race in the abbreviated form, has been the prologue to the Hahnenkamm race weekend since 2001. Talents from eight nations compete in this slalom on the prestigious Ganslern slope - just a few days before the World Cup elite battle it out for points and prestige at the same venue. The Juniors Race is held as a team competition with girls and boys. The most promising youngsters between the ages of 14 and 15 are nominated. This year, for the first time in the history of the Juniors Race, a team from the USA is taking part, all students from the Burke Mountain Academy in Vermont, whose alumni include Mikaela Shiffrin, Nina O'Brian, Tom Grandi and Shane McConkey, amongst others.

Each team consists of 3 girls and 3 boys and they all ski two slalom runs - even if they do not qualify for the second run. There is, however, a time penalty. The times of the best two athletes are added together. Prize money totalling 20,000 euros is up for grabs. The winning team receives 3,700 Euros and the tenth-placed team receives 1,300 euros. Last year, the team from Germany was delighted to win the LONGINES Future Hahnenkamm Champions title for the first time.

Germany will be competing again this year, alongside teams from Slovenia, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Italy, the Czech Republic, the USA and Austria. Three Austrian teams will once again be fighting for a home win this year: Austria 1, Austria 2 and Tirol.

Click here for the Juniors Race live stream

The first heat starts on Wednesday at 10.15 hrs, the second follows at 13.30 hrs. Since its premiere in 2001, former Juniors Race winners and participants have gone on to great success in the World Cup, at the Olympic Games and World Championships. These include Anna Veith, Marcel Hirscher, Matthias Mayer, Beat Feuz, Adrian Pertl, Dominik Paris, Eva-Maria Brem, Pepi Ferstl, Max Franz, Chiara Mair, Ariane Rädler, Fritz Dopfer, Pepi Ferstl, Kathi Gallhuber, Fabio Gstrein, Raphael Haaser, Ilka Stuhec and many more.