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Franz Klammer

Franz Klammer..
— Alpine skier —
Franz Klammer (Gala-Nacht des Sports 2009).jpg
Klammer in 2009
Disciplines Downhill, Giant Slalom,
Combined
Born (1953-12-03) 3 December 1953 (age 63)
Mooswald, Carinthia, Austria
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
World Cup debut December 1972 (age 19)
Retired March 1985 (age 31)
Olympics
Teams 2 – (1976, 1984)
Medals 1 (1 gold)
World Championships
Teams 5 – (197485)
includes 1976 Olympics
Medals 3 (2 gold)
World Cup
Seasons 13 – (197385)
Wins 26 – (25 DH, 1 K)
Podiums 45 – (41 DH, 1 GS, 3 K)
Overall titles 0 – (3rd in 1975, 1977)
Discipline titles 5 – (5 DH: 197578, 1983)

Franz Klammer (born 3 December 1953) is a former champion alpine ski racer from Austria. Klammer overwhelmingly dominated the downhill event for four consecutive World Cup seasons (1975-78). He was the gold medalist at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, winning the downhill at Patscherkofel by a margin of 0.33 seconds with a time of 1:45.73. He won 25 World Cup downhills, including four on the Hahnenkamm at Kitzbühel. He holds the record for the most victories (four) on the full course at Kitzbühel.

Born into a farming family in Mooswald, community Fresach, Carinthia, and like many alpine farm boys, Klammer skied to school each winter day. His home village did not have any ski lifts, so as a child he climbed up the pasture behind his house to ski downhill. Klammer started racing at the relatively late age of 14, competing in the winter whilst working on the family farm during the summer after he dropped out of school. He had a tough struggle to make the Austrian ski team, traditionally dominated by the states of Tyrol and Salzburg. He made his World Cup debut at the age of 19 in 1972 at the Val Gardena downhill: he finished ninth in the training run for the race, but could only manage 32nd place on race day due to nerves. He spent 13 seasons on the World Cup circuit, from December 1972 to March 1985.


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