Mario Stecher

Mario Stecher
Mario Stecher in Seefeld 2018
nation	Austria
birthday	17th July 1977
place of birth	Iron ore
size	178 cm
Weight	61 kg
job	Regular soldier
Career
society	WSV Eisenerz
status	resigned
End of career	February 27, 2015
Medal table
Olympic medals 2 × 0 × 2 × World Cup medals 2 × 3 × 1 × JWM medals 2 × 1 × 1 × National medals 13 × 5 × 1 ×
winter Olympics bronze 2002 Salt Lake City team gold 2006 Turin team gold 2010 Vancouver team bronze 2014 Sochi team  Nordic World Ski Championships bronze 1997 Trondheim team silver 1999 Ramsau sprint silver 2001 Lahti team gold 2011 Oslo Team normal hill gold 2011 Oslo Team large hill silver 2013 Val di Fiemme Normal hill  Nordic Junior Ski World Championships gold 1994 Breitenwang singles bronze 1994 Breitenwang team gold 1995 Gällivare team silver 1995 Gällivare singles  Austrian championships silver 1998 Murau sprint gold 1998 iron ore singles gold 1999 Saalfelden singles gold 2000 Andelsbuch singles gold 2001 Stams sprint silver 2001 Villach singles gold 2002 Stams singles silver 2003 Villach NH / 15 km gold 2005 Bischofshofen sprint gold 2005 Bischofshofen Gundersen bronze 2006 Stams Gundersen silver 2006 Innsbruck sprint gold 2007 Bischofshofen sprint gold 2008 Oberstdorf sprint gold 2010 Stams Normal hill silver 2011 Hinzenbach Normal hill gold 2011 Bischofshofen Large hill gold 2013 Villach Normal hill gold 2013 Bischofshofen Large hill
Placements in the World Cup
Debut in the World Cup	December 4, 1993 in Saalfelden
World Cup victories (individual)	12 ( details )
Overall World Cup	2. ( 1997/98 )
Podium placements 1. 2. 3.  singles 9 11 12  sprint 3 2 5  Mass start 0 0 1  team 1 2 3
last change: April 28, 2019

Mario Stecher (born July 17, 1977 in Eisenerz ) is a former Austrian Nordic combined athlete .

Life

Stecher started for WSV Eisenerz and was on the ÖSV team from 1991 to 2015. He is known among the combiners as a strong jumper. In the junior division he won gold in singles and bronze with the team at the Junior World Championships in 1994 in Breitenwang . At the Junior World Championships in 1995 in Gällivare , Sweden , he was world champion with the Austrian team and won silver in the individual.

On December 4, 1993, Stecher made his debut in the World Cup and finished in 7th place. In his second race he celebrated his first of twelve World Cup victories so far, making him the youngest winner at the legendary Holmenkollen in 1994 at the age of 16 .

Stecher took part in six Olympic Games, in 1994 in Lillehammer , 1998 in Nagano (4th place team, 8th place individual), 2002 in Salt Lake City (bronze with the team, 6th place in individual), in Turin 2006 (gold with the team) and in Vancouver 2010 (gold with the team). At the relay competition in Turin in 2006, Stecher was Austria's final runner. He managed to intercept the leading German Jens Gaiser - who was a good jumper, but weaker on the trail -. In Vancouver 2010 Mario Stecher succeeded in defending the Turin title again as the final runner. At the Nordic World Ski Championships in Oslo in 2011 , Stecher won the gold medal with the team on both the normal and the large hill. In both competitions he went back to the trail as the final runner and delivered a sprint to the finish against the German Tino Edelmann . Both times, Stecher prevailed by a few centimeters. At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi , where he led the Austrian team as the flag bearer , he won the bronze medal in the team competition. On February 27, 2015, Mario Stecher announced the end of his career as part of the Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun , for which he was not included in the ÖSV roster.

In 2015 Mario Stecher published the book Persistent Success .

On April 3, 2018 it was announced that Stecher will be the successor to Ernst Vettori as the sports director of the ÖSV .

Stecher has been married to the former ski racer Carina Raich since June 7, 2008 . They have two sons together.

Sporting successes

Olympic games

	discipline	space
Lillehammer 1994	team	9.
	Gundersen	27.
Nagano 1998	team	4th
	Gundersen	8th.
Salt Lake City 2002	team	3.
	Gundersen	6th
	sprint	11.
Turin 2006	team	1.
	sprint	14th
	Gundersen	19th
Vancouver 2010	Normal hill	5.
	team	1.
Sochi 2014	team	3.
	Normal hill	18th
	Large hill	19th

World championships

• Thunder Bay 1995 : 5th Team NH
• Trondheim 1997 : 3rd team NH
• Ramsau 1999 : 25th Gundersen, 7th team NH, 2nd sprint
• Lahti 2001 : 2nd team NH
• Oberstdorf 2005 : 25th Gundersen, 17th sprint
• Sapporo 2007 : 12th sprint, 4th team LH, 18th Gundersen
• Liberec 2009 : 22nd mass start, 10th Gundersen NH, 5th Team LH, 17th Gundersen LH
• Oslo 2011 : 29th Gundersen NH, 1st Team NH, 10th Gundersen LH, 1st Team LH
• Val di Fiemme 2013 : 2nd Gundersen NH

World cup

• 43 podium finishes, including 12 victories:

No.	date	place	country	discipline
1	January 15, 1994	Oslo	Norway	Gundersen
2	February 18, 1996	Murau	Austria	Gundersen
3	December 29, 1996	Oberwiesenthal	Germany	sprint
4th	January 18, 1997	St. Moritz	Switzerland	Gundersen
5	February 1, 1997	Hakuba	Japan	Gundersen
6th	December 13, 1997	Steamboat Springs	United States	Gundersen
7th	March 10, 1998	Falun	Sweden	sprint
8th	November 27, 2005	Kuusamo	Finland	sprint
9	February 7, 2009	Seefeld	Austria	Gundersen
10	January 31, 2010	Seefeld	Austria	Gundersen
11	December 18, 2010	Ramsau	Austria	Gundersen
12	December 19, 2010	Ramsau	Austria	Gundersen

• 1st place Junior World Championship 1994
• 4 victories at the summer GP
• 13 times Austrian champion

Awards (excerpt)

• 2001: Silver Medal of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria
• 2006: Gold Medal for Services to the Republic of Austria
• Gold Medal of Honor of the State of Styria

Web links

Commons : Mario Stecher  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Mario Stecher's website
• Mario Stecher in the database of the International Ski Federation (English)
• Mario Stecher on Olympic.org  - The Official website of the Olympic movement (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ kurier.at: Mario Stecher ends his career. February 27, 2015, accessed February 27, 2015 . 
2. ↑ "Enduringly successful": ombiner legend Mario Stecher presented his first book in Vienna . sportaktiv.com from April 25, 2015
3. ↑ Mario Stecher follows Ernst Vettori as Sports Director at ÖSV | Sky Sport Austria . In: Sky Sport Austria . April 3, 2018 ( skysportaustria.at [accessed April 3, 2018]).
4. ↑ Mario Stecher marries Carina Raich ( Memento of the original from March 14, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) 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. sport.orf.at, June 2008 
5. ^ Homepage of the Raich family ( Memento of the original from December 26, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. raich.at, February 2013 
6. ↑ ^{a b} List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.9 MB)
7. ↑ Honor where honor is due! ( Memento from September 9, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )