Alfred Matt

Alfred Matt
nation	Austria
birthday	May 11, 1948 (age 72)
place of birth	Zams , Austria
size	174 cm
Weight	70 kg
Career
discipline	Slalom , giant slalom , downhill , combination
society	SC Pettneu
status	resigned
End of career	1973
Medal table
Olympic games 0 × 0 × 1 × World championships 0 × 0 × 1 ×
winter Olympics bronze Grenoble 1968 slalom  Alpine World Ski Championships bronze Grenoble 1968 slalom
Placements in the Alpine Ski World Cup
Individual world cup victories 2  Overall World Cup 4. ( 1968/1969 )  Downhill World Cup 9. (1968/1969)  Giant Slalom World Cup 10. (1968/1969)  Slalom World Cup 1. (1968/1969)
Podium placements 1. 2. 3.  Departure 0 0 1  Giant slalom 0 1 0  slalom 2 1 4th

Alfred Matt (born May 11, 1948 in Zams ) is a former Austrian ski racer . He won the bronze medal in slalom at the 1968 Winter Olympics and two races in the Alpine Ski World Cup .

biography

Alfred Matt, a nephew of the slalom world champion Rudolph Matt , began skiing intensively at the age of twelve. The first successes soon followed and Matt was one of the best Austrian young runners in all disciplines. In 1965 he became Austrian youth champion in slalom, downhill and combined in Grafenast near Schwaz and in 1967 junior champion in giant slalom and combined. In addition, he achieved numerous other podium places at the junior championships. From winter 1966/1967 he was part of the squad of the Austrian Ski Association and with good results in FIS races , including three victories in what is now his strongest discipline, slalom, he secured a place in the Austrian World Cup team.

Olympic bronze in slalom in Grenoble

In the World Cup , Matt reached third place in the Wengen slalom right at the beginning of the 1968 season and second place on the Ganslernhang in Kitzbühel . He confirmed these achievements at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble when he won the bronze medal in slalom behind Jean-Claude Killy and Herbert Huber - after the alleged winner Karl Schranz had been disqualified. Back then, the Olympic Games were both World Championships and World Cups. He achieved another podium in March 1968 in the Aspen slalom .

Victory in the Slalom World Cup discipline classification

The following season 1968/69 was for Matt to his most successful in the World Cup. He won the first slalom in Berchtesgaden on January 3rd , then stood three times on the podium - once each in slalom and giant slalom and, surprisingly, in the downhill as well - and celebrated his second slalom victory on March 16th in Mont Sainte-Anne . In a decision that is still unique today, the then 20-year-old and three French runners became one of four winners with equal points in the Slalom World Cup. This result was made possible because at that time only the best three race results were counted for the discipline World Cup. With his good performances in giant slalom and downhill he also achieved fourth place in the overall World Cup. Matt also celebrated successes outside of the World Cup, for example winning the slalom in St. Anton at the Arlberg-Kandahar races and his two Austrian championship titles in giant slalom and combined.

In the next few years Matt's career was interrupted several times by injuries and as a result he never quite matched his previous results. After a broken leg, Matt fell out the entire winter of 1969/1970 and the 1970/71 season , in which a fifth place in the Berchtesgaden slalom was his best result, he had to end prematurely after another leg injury. In the winter of 1971/72 , only a ninth place in the slalom of Kitzbühel was his best World Cup result, but he still managed to qualify for the Austrian Olympic team. At the 1972 Winter Games in Sapporo , he finished 14th in the slalom. In the 1972/73 season Matt reached fourth place in the Naeba slalom as well as further top 10 results in the World Cup and he was Austrian champion for the third time, this time in slalom. Another broken leg in 1973, however, meant the end of his career.

In the next two years Matt started as a professional in North America, but remained there without major success. In 1975 he switched to coaching and initially looked after the European Cup group of the Austrian Ski Association as a technical trainer for several years before taking over the World Cup group from the early 1980s to 1982. Today he runs a small bar in Pettneu am Arlberg.

successes

winter Olympics

(also counted as world championships)

• Grenoble 1968 : 3rd slalom
• Sapporo 1972 : 14th slalom

World Cup ratings

Alfred Matt once won the slalom discipline.

season	total		Departure		Giant slalom		slalom
	space	Points	space	Points	space	Points	space	Points
1968	13.	51	-	-	33.	1	5.	50
1968/69	4th	104	9.	19th	10.	20th	1.	65
1970/71	31.	14th	-	-	23.	2	16.	12
1971/72	45.	2	-	-	-	-	23.	2
1972/73	28.	20th	-	-	27.	2	13.	18th

World Cup victories

Matt achieved a total of 9 podium places (the 1968 Olympic Slalom was also part of the World Cup), including 2 victories:

date	place	country	discipline
3rd January 1969	Berchtesgaden	Germany	slalom
March 16, 1969	Mont Sainte-Anne	Canada	slalom

Austrian championships

• Austrian champion in giant slalom and combined in 1969 and in slalom in 1973

More Achievements

• Victory in the slalom of the Arlberg-Kandahar race in 1969
• Victory in the European Cup slalom in Sterzing in the 1972/1973 season
• Three victories in FIS slaloms in the 1966/1967 season

Awards (excerpt)

• 1996: Gold Medal of Merit of the Republic of Austria

literature

• Austrian Ski (ed.): Austrian ski stars of A-Z . Ablinger & Garber, Hall in Tirol 2008, ISBN 978-3-9502285-7-1 , p. 262f

Web links

• Alfred Matt in the database of the International Ski Federation (English)
• Alfred Matt in the database of Ski-DB (English)
• Alfred Matt in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ^ "Youth: Matt and Gabl" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 23, 1965, p. 11 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).