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Klammer croods kuscheltier5/18/2023 3, he performed pretty well and crossed the finish line with a time of 1:46.06, giving him the lead. The man to beat was the Swiss competitor Bernhard Russi, title-holder after his victory at the Sapporo Games in 1972 and who intended to retain his sceptre. For “Kaiser Franz”, this moment of triumph happened on the 3,020m of the Patscherkofel in Innsbruck on Thursday 5 February 1976.Ī huge crowd had amassed along the edge of the piste and at the finish line for the star event at the Innsbruck Games. This is all the sweeter when it is won in front of more than 60,000 focused supporters and millions of Austrians gathered in front of their TV sets across the country. With the Super-G, as a second speed race, not existing at the time, Klammer's career was only downhill (apart from a world title in the combined event in 1974), which explains why despite his overwhelming domination, the Austrian skier, born on 3 December 1953 in Mooswald (Carinthia), was never able to compete for the large general classification globe in the World Cup in an era particularly characterised by the success of the Swede Ingemar Stenmark.Ī great career only becomes exceptional with the ultimate title – an Olympic gold medal. I knew I will do it,” he explains, “I was full of confidence, I knew I can pull it off, and at any time, I learned how to win a race: concentrate, just on your race, you and the mountain and not thinking about anybody else.” The feats of this exceptional downhill skier include this total domination of the 1974-1975 season, with eight victories in the nine races of the programme, a run, straddling the two following seasons, of 10 consecutive wins and another record: five small discipline crystal globes, won consecutively from 1975 to 1978, then in 1983. “I always had this feeling in the starting gate. From his first victory in the World Cup at 19 years old, to Schladming on 22 December 1973, to his ultimate success in the discipline, his fourth triumph on the Kitzbühel Streif on 21 January 1984, Franz Klammer won 25 downhill races – a record that still stands today, and that no-one has even come close to beating to date in the men's event. We would be right to consider him the greatest downhill skier of all time.
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