Günther Matzinger

Günther Matzinger
Günther Matzinger with the award as Austria's Disabled Sportsman of the Year 2012
nation	Austria
birthday	16th May 1987 (age 33)
place of birth	Tamsweg
size	183 cm
Weight	68 kg
Career
discipline	Sprint , 800 m
society	ÖTB Salzburg athletics
Trainer	Eduard Holzer
status	active
Medal table
Paralympic Games gold 2012 London 400 m gold 2012 London 800 m bronze 2016 Rio de Janeiro 400 m World Championships for the Disabled bronze 2011 Christchurch 800 m silver 2011 Christchurch 400 m gold 2013 Lyon 400 m gold 2017 London 400 m European Championships for the Disabled silver 2014 Swansea 400 m silver 2016 Grosseto 200 m gold 2018 Berlin 400 m IWAS World Games gold 2009 Bangalore 400 m silver 2009 Bangalore 800 m
last change: August 24, 2018

Günther Matzinger (born May 16, 1987 in Tamsweg , Salzburg ) is an Austrian sprinter and medium-distance runner . He is largely specialized in the 400 and 800 m distances , in which he won Paralympic gold in London in 2012 . In 2013 and 2017 he was world champion with disabilities over the 400 m. In addition, he has already won several Austrian state championship titles in the general class.

Life

Günther Matzinger was born with dysmelia of the right forearm. He therefore starts in the Paralympic class T46 , but also takes part in competitions in the general class.

Sports career

Matzinger first started in Beijing in 2008 at the Paralympic Summer Games , where he initially took seventh place over 200 m. In the 400 m he was fifth, just five hundredths of a second behind a medal. In 2009 he celebrated his first major successes and won gold over 400 m and silver over 800 m at the IWAS World Games in Bangalore . Two years later he won silver and bronze over the same distances at the IPC World Championships .

Matzinger's big breakthrough came at the 2012 Paralympics in London . First he crowned himself the winner of the 400 m with a new European record in 48.45 seconds. Four days later he also won the gold medal in the 800 m in the world record time of 1: 51.82 minutes. These successes brought him numerous awards, including being voted Austria's Disabled Sportsman of the Year . They also moved him to pursue a professional sports career.

In 2013 Matzinger won gold in the 400 m World Championship, and in 2014 and 2016 another medal in the 400 and 200 m respectively at the IPC European Championships. At the Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 , he had to be content with bronze over 400 m as defending champion, while the 800 m competition was no longer held. In addition to four national championship titles for disabled people, Matzinger has already won four titles in the general class - one of them with the relay. His first win came in 2013 just one day after his IPC World Championship title in Lyon , when he beat Mario Haberfellner over the 800 m distance.

Matzinger has been running with a custom-made carbon prosthesis since 2015 , which is intended to both compensate for the missing flywheel and ensure a better start.

In October 2016, Matzinger was employed as one of five parasport athletes in the armed forces. The four-year service contract serves to prepare for the Paralympics 2020 in Tokyo .

Others

Günther Matzinger completed a degree in export-oriented management at the Krems University of Applied Sciences and worked for a time in a bank for capital market financing in Munich before turning to professional sport in 2012. After a herniated disc in 2014, Matzinger developed a training program in the form of a card set, which he also sold and sells through his own online shop. He is also a co-developer of bots MyWorkout which via Facebook Messenger its users suggests individual workouts.

In October 2012, he and Thomas Geierspichler earned the maximum amount of 75,000 euros for the Austrian Sports Aid at the celebrity edition of the millionaire show .

successes

Matzinger (left) in the Paralympic final in Rio over 400 m (2016)

Paralympic Games

• Beijing 2008 : 5th place over 400 m (49.56 s), 7th place over 200 m (23.12 s)
• London 2012 : gold over 400 m (48.45 s), gold over 800 m (1: 51.82 )
• Rio de Janeiro 2016 : bronze over 400 m (48.95 s)

IPC world championships

• Christchurch 2011 : silver over 400 m (49.80 s), bronze over 800 m (1: 54.52 min)
• Lyon 2013 : gold over 400 m (49.45 s)
• London 2017 : gold over 400 m (49.35 s)

IWAS World Games

• Bangalore 2009 : gold over 400 m (49.57 s), silver over 800 m (1: 55.65 min)

IPC European Championships

• Swansea 2014 : Silver over 400 m (50.89 s)
• Grosseto 2016 : Silver over 200 m (22.60 s)
• Berlin 2018 : Gold over 400 m (50.34 s)

More Achievements

• Three-time Austrian national champion over 800 m (2013, 2015 and 2016, general class)
• Austrian relay national champion over 3 × 1000 m (2016, general class)
• Three-time Austrian disabled national champion over 400 m (2011, 2014 and 2015)
• Austrian Disabled State Champion over 100 m (2011)

Personal best

distance	time	place	date
100 m	11.44 s	Linz	June 25, 2016
200 m	22.21 s	Linz	June 25, 2016
300 m	35.66 s	Gilching	May 1, 2015
400 m	48.28 s	Salzburg	July 30, 2016
800 m	1: 50.77 min	Linz	August 1, 2015
1000 m	2: 32.26 min	Andorf	15th August 2015

Awards

• 2010: Gold Medal for Services to the Republic of Austria
• 2012: Austria's disabled athlete of the year
• 2012: Great Decoration of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria
• 2012: City seal in gold of the city of Salzburg

Web links

Commons : Günther Matzinger  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Günther Matzinger's website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Rio project - Günther Matzinger. (No longer available online.) Ministry of Sport , ÖOC and ÖPC , archived from the original on January 14, 2017 ; accessed on January 14, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Double Paralympics winner Günther Matzinger: Images in the head. Wüstenrot , 2015, accessed January 14, 2017 . 
3. ↑ State Athletics Championships 2013. (No longer available online.) ÖLV , July 27, 2013, archived from the original on January 14, 2017 ; accessed on January 14, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ Matzinger wants to go gold with his best performance in Rio. Salzburger Nachrichten , August 31, 2016, accessed on January 14, 2017 . 
5. ↑ ^{a b} Matzinger goes to Tokyo as an army athlete. Günther Matzinger, November 1, 2016, accessed on January 14, 2017 . 
6. ↑ 160,000 euros for Österreichische Sporthilfe at Armin Assinger's "Celebrity Millionaire Show". APA-OTS , October 22, 2012, accessed January 14, 2017 .