Franz Klammer

Franz Klammer (born December 3, 1953) is a former alpine ski racer from Austria who 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 in dramatic fashion. He won 25 World Cup downhills, including four on the Hahnenkamm at Kitzbühel.

Background

Franz Klammer was born into a farming family in Mooswald, Carinthia. Like many alpine farm boys, he skied to school each winter day. He had a tough struggle to make the Austrian ski team, dominated by the provinces of Tyrol and Salzburg. He spent 12 seasons on the World Cup circuit (1972–84).

Career

Klammer first showed signs of promise in the second half of the 1973 World Cup season, finishing second in the St. Anton downhill behind Bernhard Russi. Klammer, age 19, followed this up with a third at St. Moritz and a third in the giant slalom at Mont Sainte-Anne. The following season he finished second in the downhill standings behind Roland Collombin of Switzerland, his nemesis that season. After besting Collombin at Schladming under terrible conditions, Collombin bested him at Garmisch, Avoriaz and Wengen. In December 1974, Collombin fell at Val-d'Isère, as he had the previous year. This time Collombin broke his back, unfortunately ending his promising career. Klammer won that race and every other downhill that 1975 season, except Megève, where his ski came off.

Entering the 1976 Winter Olympics, the 22 year old Klammer was the favorite to take the gold medal in the downhill. He was the defending World Cup downhill champion, and had won the three previous downhills in January at Wengen, Morzine, and Kitzbühel. Starting in the 15th position, Klammer was the last of the top seeds, and knew that defending Olympic champion Bernhard Russi of Switzerland had set a blistering pace on the course at Patscherkofel. Klammer took heavy risks on the treacherous piste, skied on the edge of disaster, and won by 0.33 seconds to the delight of the Austrian fans.
* [http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/610.html?sector=AL&competitorid=30884&raceid=8647 Top 15 finishers]

Although he dominated the downhill, the overall World Cup title remained elusive, because the technical specialists had two events in which to earn points (slalom & giant slalom) whereas a speed specialist had only one. At the end of the 1974-75 season, despite having won 8 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, at the twilight of Klammer's World Cup career.

Klammer won the World Cup downhill title five 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 of three consecutive victories (1975-77) on the prestigious "Streif" on the Hahnenkamm at Kitzbühel. He would win a fourth in 1984.

After his fourth consecutive World Cup Downhill title in (1978 Alpine Skiing World Cup|1978), he began a prolonged slump until the end of the 1981 season, probably affected by his brother's spinal cord injury in a downhill race as well as a change of ski supplier (from Fischer to Blizzard). 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 at Val-d'Isère. The following season he regained the World Cup Downhill title, his fifth, followed by the 1984 Hahnenkamm, his fourth. At the 1984 Games in Sarajevo, (then Yugoslavia, now Bosnia), Klammer finished a disappointing tenth on a less-than-challenging course on Bjelašnica. The race was won by the brash Bill Johnson of the U.S., who had recently won at Wengen and publicly predicted his victory.

At his peak (Wengen 1976 to Wengen 1977), Klammer won ten consecutive downhills, including the spectacular, pressure-laden win at the 1976 Olympics. He won 8 of 9 during the 1975 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 and 1 Olympic. These achievements mark him as arguably the greatest downhill racer ever: 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 at 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.

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.

World Cup victories

Overall

Individual races

External links

* [http://www.worldwhoswho.com/views/entry.html?id=kla-klr-161202-1411 KLAMMER. Franz] International Who's Who. accessed September 4, 2006.
*
* [http://www.ski-db.com/db/profiles/klmfr.asp Ski-db.com] - Franz Klammer - results
* [http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/cover/featured/8472/index.htm "Sports Illustrated"] - cover - 16-Feb-1976 - Franz Klammer
** [http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1090745/index.htm On Came The Heroes] - by William Oscar Johnson
* [http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1028581/index.htm "Sports Illustrated"] - 21-Feb-2003 - Franz Klammer
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtB5SW7HYyY YouTube video] - Olympics - 05-Feb-1976
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9GG02RvV0Y&feature=related YouTube video] - Kitzbühel - 21-Jan-1984
* 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

Persondata
NAME=Klammer, Franz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=downhill skier
DATE OF BIRTH=December 3, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH=Mooswald, Austria
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=