Matthias Mayer
Mayer in January 2014
Personal information
Born (1990-06-09) 9 June 1990 (age 33)
Afritz am See, Carinthia, Austria
OccupationAlpine skier
Height1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)
Skiing career
DisciplinesDownhill, super-G, combined, giant slalom
ClubSC Gerlitzen – Kärnten
World Cup debut22 February 2009 (age 18)
Retired29 December 2022 (age 32)
Websitematthiasmayer.at
Olympics
Teams3 – (2014, 2018, 2022)
Medals4 (3 gold)
World Championships
Teams5 – (2013–2021)
Medals0
World Cup
Seasons13 – (2011–2023)
Wins11 – (7 DH, 3 SG, 1 AC)
Podiums45 – (22 DH, 22 SG, 1 AC)
Overall titles0 – (4th in 2020 and 2022)
Discipline titles0 – (2nd in DH, 2021)
Medal record
Men's alpine skiing
Representing  Austria
World Cup race podiums
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Super-G 3 10 9
Downhill 7 5 10
Combined 1 0 0
Total 11 15 19
International alpine ski competitions
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 3 0 1
World Championships 0 0 0
Total 3 0 1
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2014 Sochi Downhill
Gold medal – first place 2018 Pyeongchang Super-G
Gold medal – first place 2022 Beijing Super-G
Bronze medal – third place 2022 Beijing Downhill
Junior World Championships
Silver medal – second place 2008 Formigal Super-G

Matthias Mayer (German pronunciation: [maˈtiːas ˈmaɪɐ]; born 9 June 1990) is an Austrian retired World Cup alpine ski racer and Olympic champion.[1][2]

Career

Born in Afritz am See in Carinthia,[3] Mayer made his World Cup debut in Sestriere in February 2009. His best discipline is super-G. After several top ten finishes, his first World Cup podium came at Kitzbühel in a super-G in January 2013.[4]

At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Mayer won the downhill to become the seventh Austrian gold medalist in the 18th edition of the event. Joining him on the podium at Rosa Khutor were Christof Innerhofer of Italy and Kjetil Jansrud of Norway.[5] Immediately after the Olympics, he had two podium finishes in Norway,[6][7] and a victory at the World Cup finals. He won his second Olympic gold medal in 2018 in the super G.

At the 2022 Winter Olympics, Mayer won the bronze medal in the downhill and successfully defended his title in the super G. With three Olympic titles in addition to a bronze, he is Austria’s most decorated Olympic alpine medalist.[8]

On 29 December 2022, Mayer shocked the ski racing community when he announced his immediate retirement at 32 years old, just hours before a super-G race in Bormio he was scheduled to start.[9] He finished his World Cup career with 11 wins and 45 podium finishes in 13 seasons.

Personal life

Mayer's father is Helmut Mayer (b.1966), the silver medalist in the first Olympic super-G in 1988;[10] he also won a silver medal at the World Championships in 1989, in the giant slalom at Vail.

World cup results

Season standings

Season
Age Overall Slalom Giant
Slalom 		Super G Downhill Combined
2011 20 150  —  — 48  —  —
2012 21 50  —  — 13  — 26
2013 22 17  — 39 3 25 9
2014 23 9  — 44 4 5 11
2015 24 9  — 46 3 4 10
2016 25 57 — — 18 34 —
2017 26 13 — — 7 8 27
2018 27 9 — 41 10 6 7
2019 28 17 — 52 6 12 —
2020 29 4 — 33 4 3 3
2021 30 7 — 55 3 2 —
2022 31 4 — — 4 5
2023 32 19 — — 17 8
Standings through 31 January 2023

Race victories

Season
Date Location Discipline
2014 12 Mar 2014  Switzerland  Lenzerheide, Switzerland Downhill
2015 21 Feb 2015 Austria Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria Downhill
22 Feb 2015 Super-G
2017 20 Jan 2017 Austria Kitzbühel, Austria Super-G
2018 14 Mar 2018 Sweden Åre, Sweden Downhill
2020 1 Dec 2019 Canada Lake Louise, Canada Super-G
17 Jan 2020  Switzerland  Wengen, Switzerland Combined
25 Jan 2020 Austria Kitzbühel, Austria Downhill
7 Mar 2020 Norway  Kvitfjell, Norway Downhill
2021 30 Dec 2020 Italy Bormio, Italy Downhill
2022 27 Nov 2021 Canada Lake Louise, Canada Downhill

World Championship results

  Year    Age   Slalom   Giant 
 slalom 		 Super-G Downhill Combined
2013 22 — — 5 13 10
2015 24 — — 4 12 11
2017 26 — — DNF 11 17
2019 28 — — DNF 5 —
2021 30 — — 6 DNF DNF2

Olympic results

  Year    Age   Slalom   Giant 
 slalom 		 Super-G Downhill Combined
2014 23 — 6 DNF 1 13
2018 27 — — 1 9 DNF2
2022 31 — — 1 3 —

References

  1. ^ "biographie". FIS-Ski. Archived from the original on 9 November 2012. Retrieved 22 December 2012.
  2. ^ "Matthias Mayer wins gold in Olympic downhill". Sochi2014. 9 February 2014. Archived from the original on 5 July 2014. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
  3. ^ "Matthias MAYER | Alpine skiing | Austria – Sochi 2014 Olympics". Sochi2014.com. Organizing Committee of the XXII Olympic Winter Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games of 2014 in Sochi. Archived from the original on 19 July 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
  4. ^ McKee, Hank (25 January 2013). "Svindal gets his 1st Kitzbuehel win in SG". Ski Racing. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
  5. ^ "Men's Downhill – Alpine skiing – Sochi 2014 Olympics". Sochi2014.com. Organizing Committee of the XXII Olympic Winter Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games of 2014 in Sochi. Archived from the original on 19 March 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
  6. ^ McKee, Hank (1 March 2014). "Guay wins Kvitfjell downhill with Ganong fourth". Ski Racing. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  7. ^ McKee, Hank (2 March 2014). "Home hill advantage to Jansrud in Kvitfjell SG". Ski Racing. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  8. ^ red, ORF at (8 February 2022). "Ski alpin: Mayer auf Augenhöhe mit Olympialegenden". sport.ORF.at (in German). Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  9. ^ "Matthias Mayer ends his skiing career". Ski Racing. 30 December 2022. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  10. ^ "Aksel Lund Svindal wins super-G for 20th career victory". USA Today. Associated Press. 25 January 2013. Retrieved 20 December 2013.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Matthias Mayer.
Olympic champions in alpine skiing – men's downhill
Olympic champions in alpine skiing – men's super-G
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