Franz Klammer

Franz Klammer ( born December 3, 1953 in moss forest, Carinthia ) is an Austrian former alpine skier. In 1976 he became Olympic champion in the downhill and has 25 downhill victories, and the five-time winning the downhill World Cup the most successful racers of this discipline in World Cup history.

  • 6.1 Olympic Winter Games
  • 6.2 World Championships
  • 6.3 World Cup
  • 6.4 Single Cup victory
  • 6.5 Austrian Championships

Childhood and youth

Franz Klammer was already in early childhood on skis. Since there was no lift in his hometown moss forest, he always had to trudge up to walk or take the bus to the next, 30 km distant ski the slopes. He began as a 14 - year-old with racing after it had been shown that he was always superior to race with friends. With 17 years bracket made ​​the jump from the Carinthian provincial cadres in the C- squad of the Austrian Ski Federation ( Austrians ). The first big success came in the 18 -year-olds in December 1971, when he won the European Cup downhill in Bad Kleinkirchheim.

Ski career

Course

This victory in Bad Kleinkirchheim made ​​the new Austrian Ski downhill coach Charly Kahr attention to Franz Klammer. Although the talented Carinthian then also came in the technical disciplines has a real potential, he was subsequently by Kahrs support more and more downhill. His first downhill victory in the World Cup he took on the Planai in Schladming on 22 December 1973., With an average speed of 111.251 km / h, it has long been the fastest World Cup races. On March 14, 1993, Armin reached in the Sierra Nevada 112.37 km / h

Clip won at the Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck in 1976 the gold medal in downhill skiing, after he had already won at the Alpine World Ski Championships 1974 in St. Moritz in this discipline the silver medal and in combination with the gold medal. He celebrated 26 victories in World Cup races and five hits in the downhill World Cup standings ( 1975-78 and 1983). With 25 downhill victories, he is the most successful downhill World Cup history against Peter Mueller with 19 wins. He won all the classic descents, where it four times, the Lauberhorn race three times and on the Saslong in Val Gardena won the Hahnenkamm race in Kitzbühel, Wengen four times. In 1975 he won in Wengen with the record margin of 3.6 seconds while, only a hundredth of a second separated him from Gustav Thöni in Kitzbühel, where he was wounded started because of a training fall.

A heavy fall in Megeve in the ski season 1974/75, where had opened the bond after a long jump, cost the Carinthian probably the victory in the World Cup, because in the final parallel slalom in St. Ulrich, to which he traveled all as nearly Leading, was he stand a chance against the technicians from the start. So finally it was only enough for third place behind Gustav Thöni and Ingemar Stenmark. Nevertheless, he was awarded after first winning the Downhill World Cup 1975 by the International Association of Ski Journalists with the Skieur d'Or. The danger of the sport is reflected in a serious accident of his then 17 - year-old brother Klaus clip in winter 1977. In a FIS downhill Lienz in East Tyrol ended a devastating crash with the result of a cross-section syndrome whose career abruptly.

After bracket for four years dominated the downhill World Cup, he got into the 1978/79 season in a loss of form, three years did not reach a podium finish and missed 1980 also qualified for the Olympic team, so he could not defend his gold medal from 1976. Only at the beginning of the season 1981/82 he celebrated in Val d'Isere his next victory and won again in 1983 the downhill World Cup. His last World Cup victory he celebrated in 1984 in Kitzbühel. His last World Cup race went the " exit Emperor " on 14 March 1985 in Aspen.

Olympic victory in 1976

At the Olympic Games 1976 in Innsbruck clip won gold in the downhill at the Patscherkofel. Given its superiority in the descent he was in 1976 as a big favorite to win the Olympic title, but it also weighed an enormous pressure of expectations on him. In fact, it came on 5 February before sixty thousand spectators to the great duel with Bernhard Russi, the Olympic champion in 1972. Initially set a personal best on the Swiss. Clip started with bib number 15, was the meantime, after a serious error in the upper part with 19 hundredths of a second behind only third, caught up in the lower part and won by a margin of 33 hundredths of a second.

Professional ski races in the U.S.

After his trip to the 1988 Motorsport clip returned back to skiing and drove to 1998 professional ski races in the U.S., twice won the Tournament of Champions and seven titles in downhill and parallel slalom.

Motorsport career

Following the resignation of ski racing 1985 clip was active as a race car driver to 1988: he began his second career as a racing driver in the team of former Formula 1 driver Helmut Marko. RSM Marko started in 1985 with rounds of the DTM with the two pilots Franz Klammer and Peter Oberdorfer with Alfa Romeo GTV. As a team manager at that time acted Harald Schwarz. In 1986, RSM Marko with clip / Oberdorfer to Mercedes. Franz Klammer later was also Austrian Touring Car Champion, secured several victories in the European Touring Car Championship (Nurburgring ) and in 1000 -km races ( Bathurst, Australia).

Since the mid- 1980s clip is active golfer.

Private life

As a consultant and representative Franz Klammer has worked for several companies and institutions and is still very strong in sports, particularly involved in skiing. So he's since November 2008 Sports Coordinator at Hypo Group Alpe Adria. In addition to his involvement in the Olympic movement, he is the United Nations and a member of the Academy of the Laureus World Sports Awards in Monte Carlo ambassador.

Clip is married since 1979, has two daughters and lives in Vienna.

Clamp Foundation - Help for young athletes

Clip has established in 1998 its own foundation, which helps with the money especially young injured athletes. The occasion for this was the paraplegia of his brother. After his heavy fall he had to make a rehabilitation only a gesture of goodwill the insurance of his father. The clip - Foundation collects the money for any of these golf tournaments.

Achievements

Olympic Winter Games

  • Innsbruck 1976: 1st exit
  • Sarajevo 1984: 10 Departure

World Championships

  • St. Moritz 1974: 1 combination, 2nd exit, 10 Giant Slalom, Slalom 20
  • Innsbruck 1976: 1st exit
  • Garmisch -Partenkirchen 1978: 5th exit
  • Schladming 1982: 7 Departure
  • Bormio 1985: 5th exit

World Cup

Individual World Cup victories

Total: 26 World Cup victories (25 x descent, 1 x combination )

Austrian Championships

  • Hinterstoder 1972 2nd exit
  • Warth 1974: 3rd exit
  • Bad Kleinkirchheim 1977 1st exit
  • Schladming 1978: 3rd exit
  • Radstadt 1981 3rd exit
  • Bad Kleinkirchheim 1982: 3rd exit

Awards

  • Austria's sportsman of the year 1975, 1976 and 1983
  • Skieur d'Or 1975
  • Gold Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria 1996
  • Carinthian provincial Order in Silver ( 1982), Gold (2003)
  • Honorary citizen of his home town Fresach
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