Bechter started for the SC Mühlebach, a ski club in his hometown Dornbirn , and contested his first FIS races in November 1997 . In 1998 he was accepted into the squad of the Austrian Ski Association (ÖSV). At the Junior World Championships 2001 , Bechter achieved victory in the combined ranking with fourth place in the downhill, seventh in super-G and 14th place in slalom. The following year he reached eighth place in the Super-G and eleventh place in the downhill at the 2002 Junior World Championships . At the national level, he became Austrian youth champion in the downhill in 1999 in the youth class I and in 2002 in the youth class II Austrian youth champion in super-G. Also in 2002 he was Austrian state champion in slalom in the general class .
After his first podium places and victories in FIS races, Bechter first appeared in the European Cup in January 2001 . In this racing series, he soon specialized in the disciplines of slalom and giant slalom and achieved his first podium in March 2002. By December 2008 he reached a total of 16 podium places in the European Cup, including four wins in giant slalom. In the seasons 2002/03 and 2004/05 he finished second, 2005/06 third in the giant slalom discipline. His best result in the overall ranking of the European Cup was a fourth place in the 2004/05 season .
In addition to the European Cup, Bechter also competed in the World Cup in the slalom and giant slalom disciplines from winter 2003/04 . After initially not being able to qualify for second rounds, he won his first World Cup points on December 18, 2005 with 17th place in the slalom of Alta Badia . Three weeks later, on January 7, 2006, he achieved his best World Cup result with eighth place in the giant slalom at Chuenisbärgli in Adelboden . After that he was able to qualify for the second round several times, but he did not get positions among the top 20 again until the winter of 2008/09, when he again achieved top 10 results with two tenth places in the slaloms in Levi and Zagreb . From mid-January 2009, Bechter only started in slalom, but from the 2009/10 season onwards he was only able to qualify for second rounds only rarely. His last countable result in the World Cup was a 23rd place in the slalom of Kranjska Gora in March 2011. On February 9, 2012, Bechter announced his retirement from ski racing.
Austria
