Sportgastein Criterium, live.

Opening weekend at 1,600 metres

The second race of the Ski Classics season is skied at the head of the Gastein valley, where the snow arrives earlier than in the town below.

The Sportgastein Criterium is held on Sunday 13 December 2026 in Sportgastein, above Bad Gastein in Austria: 30 kilometres in classic technique, with the men starting at 09:30 and the women at 10:30 CET. Ski Classics lists it as the second World Championship event of Season XVIII, two days after the Vertical City Sprint prologue through the centre of Bad Gastein on Friday 11 December. Sportgastein lies at 1,600 metres, a natural arena in the Hohe Tauern National Park that Ski Classics describes as snow-reliable through the winter.

The Gastein tourist board describes the race as a hill climb from Sportgastein up to the midway station of the lift, with the awards, spectator activities and live music waiting at the top. That makes the end of the race the place to be. The Gastein Alpine Road has no toll on the race weekend, and the organisers recommend public transport up to Sportgastein. A week later, on 19-20 December, the same valley hosts a Bad Gastein individual time trial, the Challenger races and a second criterium.

This is a pro tour race, and it is also shown live on SC Play. What Livebib adds is personal: a skier who carries a phone can share a link to their own broadcast, and family and friends open it in a browser, with no account and no app. They see the position on the course line, distance covered and a finish estimate that updates as the race goes. When the signal drops in the valley, the position is carried forward along the course and marked as estimated instead of freezing. The skier decides who gets the link.