Franz Klammer

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Medal record
Franz Klammer
Men’s Skiing
Competitor for  Austria
Olympic Games
Gold	1976 Innsbruck	Downhill
World Championships
Gold	1974 St. Moritz	Combined
Silver	1974 St. Moritz	Downhill

Franz Klammer (born December 3, 1953) is an Austrian former alpine ski racer who dominated the downhill event throughout much of the mid to late 1970s. He won a gold medal at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck.

[edit] Background

Franz Klammer was born in Mooswald, Carinthia, to a farming family. Like many alpine farm boys he grew up on skis, skiing to school each winter day. He had a tough struggle to make the Austrian National ski team, dominated as it was by the provinces of Tyrol and Salzburg. From his World Cup at age 19 to his retirement at age 30, he spent 12 seasons on the Alpine Skiing World Cup circuit (1972-1984).

[edit] Career

Klammer first showed signs of promise in the second half of the 1973 World Cup finishing second in the St. Anton downhill behind Bernhard Russi. He followed this up with a third at St. Moritz and a Giant Slalom third at Mont Sainte-Anne. The following season he finished second in the downhill standings behind Roland Collombin, his nemesis that season. After besting Collombin at Schladming under terrible conditions, Collombin in turn bested him at Garmisch, Avoriaz and Wengen. At Val d'Isere in December of '74 Collombin fell for a second time. He had fallen here the year before. This time he broke his back, ending his career. Klammer won that race and every other downhill that season, except Megeve, where his ski came off.

At the 1976 Winter Olympics Klammer won the gold medal in the downhill by 0.33 seconds from defending champion Bernhard Russi, who had gone out before him and set a blistering pace. Klammer, starting 15th knew what he had to do. He took heavy risks, skiing on the edge of disaster on the treacherous course and won. Although the overall World Cup title remained elusive because the technical specialists had two events in which to earn points (Slalom and Giant Slalom) whereas a downhill specialist had only the one. At the end of the 1974/1975, despite having won 8 out of 9 downhills he finished third for the overall World Cup title. The second speed event, the Super G, was not a World Cup event until December 1982.

Klammer won the World Cup downhill title 5 times: 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1983, twice more than the next best downhiller. In the 1974/75 season he won 8 of 9 World Cup downhill races, including his first out of four consecutive victories on the streif at Hahnenkamm in Kitzbühel.

After his fourth consecutive World Cup Downhill title (1977/78), he began a prolonged slump until the end of the 1980/81 season, probably affected by his brother's spinal cord injury in a downhill race as well as a change of ski supplier. Unable to make the strong Austrian team, Klammer could not defend his Olympic downhill title at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. Rather than retire, he worked long and hard at a comeback. Finally in December 1981 he won Val d'Isere. The following season he regained the World Cup Downhill title, his fifth, followed by the 1984 Hahnenkamm. At the 1984 Games in Sarajevo, (then Yugoslavia, now Bosnia and Herzegovina), Klammer finished a disappointing tenth, on a less than challenging course.

At his peak (Wengen, 1976 to Wengen, 1977) he won ten consecutive downhills, including the spectacular, pressure-laden win at the 1976 Olympics. He won 8/9 during the 1974/75 season. He also won 19 of 23, 20 of 26 and 21 of 29 downhills. His career total is 26 downhill wins: 25 World Cup, 1 Olympic. These achievements mark him out in the eyes of many as arguably the greatest dowhill racer ever: for instance, Karl Schranz achieved 20 wins over a long career while Klammer won 19 over only two and a half seasons.

In an interview with Austrian television in 2006, the 52-year-old Klammer was asked about his greatest achievement. He answered that although his gold medal at the Olympic Games in Innsbruck was generally regarded as his greatest career achievement, winning the Kitzbühel in 1984 meant something very special to him, considering he hadn't won there since 1977.

Klammer was never an elegant downhill skier. In his descents he appeared at times to be dangerously off balance. In spite, or perhaps because of his unique style of skiing, he was able to dominate a field of gifted competitors.

[edit] Legacy

Franz Klammer was a hero to Austrian ski racing fans and also to fans the world over. Known as the Kaiser and also as the "Klammer Express" he did a great deal to promote the popularity of alpine ski racing.

[edit] World Cup victories

[edit] Overall

[edit] Individual races

Date	Location	Race
22 December 1973	Schladming	Downhill
8 December 1974	Val-d'Isère	Downhill
15 December 1974	St. Moritz	Downhill
5 January 1975	Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Downhill
11 January 1975	Wengen	Downhill
18 January 1975	Kitzbühel	Downhill
26 January 1975	Innsbruck	Downhill
9 March 1975	Jackson Hole	Downhill
21 March 1975	Val Gardena	Downhill
12 December 1975	Madonna di Campiglio	Downhill
10 January 1976	Wengen	Downhill
11 January 1976	Wengen	Combined
17 January 1976	Morzine	Downhill
25 January 1976	Kitzbühel	Downhill
12 March 1976	Aspen	Downhill
17 December 1976	Val Gardena	Downhill
18 December 1976	Val Gardena	Downhill
8 January 1977	Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Downhill
15 January 1977	Kitzbühel	Downhill
22 January 1977	Wengen	Downhill
18 February 1977	Laax	Downhill
11 December 1977	Val-d'Isère	Downhill
11 March 1978	Laax	Downhill
6 December 1981	Val-d'Isère	Downhill
20 December 1982	Val Gardena	Downhill
21 January 1984	Kitzbühel	Downhill

[edit] External links

• KLAMMER. Franz International Who's Who. accessed September 4, 2006.
• FIS-Ski: Franz Klammer - statistics
• Ski-db.com - Franz Klammer - results
• Books with references and insights into Franz Klammer's career: "White Circus" by Ken Read/Matthew Fisher, also "On the Edge" by Currie Chapman/Randy Starkman

Awards
Preceded by David Zwilling	Austrian Sportsman of the year 1975 – 1976	Succeeded by Niki Lauda
Preceded by Armin Kogler	Austrian Sportsman of the year 1983	Succeeded by Peter Seisenbacher