“Kaiser” Franz Klemm celebrates his 70th today

“Every ten years is a good interval and an opportunity to celebrate bigger,” says Klemm. He enjoyed excellent health on his special day on December 3rd and remains closely connected to skiing.

You can see and experience how popular the man with the eternal rascal smile still is on December 7th (11:10 a.m./ORF 1). Numerous grandees, including Annemarie Moser-Pröll, Bernhard Russi, Gustav Thöni, Werner Grissmann, David Zwilling, Fritz Strobl, Stephan Eberharter and Matthias Mayer, meet. He was extremely pleased by the appreciation, said Klemm in the APA interview. “It’s particularly nice that so many people still come, even years later. Many friendships remain.”

He would still try to set the so-called guide time, said Klemm before the Remmidemmi. “You can’t get rid of the racing driver. I still try to be the fastest, just not so doggedly anymore.” Who knows, maybe he’ll comment on his trip with the words that older ski fans still remember: “Heit hot mi wieda from top to bottom.”

Klemm and the Patscherkofel

In 1971, at the current celebration location of Bad Kleinkirchheim, Haken’s career received a “boost” with victory in the European Cup downhill, which carried him all the way to Olympic gold. On February 5, 1976 in Innsbruck, he, who thrilled the masses with his daring driving style, was not just the hope of an entire nation. Gold was widely expected after Staple won every downhill in 1975 – if he finished.

• Also read: In the footsteps of Emperor Franz

At the start he got in the mood with a trumpet concert by Hummel and then raced to Olympic victory as a 22-year-old daredevil in a bright yellow racing uniform. With number 15 he intercepted the Swiss Bernhard Russi, who had been leading for a long time. “As I drove away I knew I was winning.” He thus met the expectations of, according to media reports, up to 60,000 fans in the Patscherkofel finish area and beyond.

“Without an Olympic victory it would have been a nice career, but not this career. It was the icing on the cake. The drama surrounding the race, me coming in as number 15 and winning – the script was simply well written,” said Klemm years ago . “Without Patscherkofel I wouldn’t be the person I am today.” The mountain farmer’s boy from Mooswald in Carinthia suddenly became emperor, and he still lives off that success to this day.

25 World Cup victories

The willingness to take risks, which he lost after the disastrous skiing accident of his brother Klaus (1977), who had since become a paraplegic, often put him in acute danger of falling. But it also gave him 25 downhill World Cup victories, which are still unmatched to this day. He will remain number one in the premier discipline for a long time. The South Tyrolean Dominik Paris is the most successful active driver with 17 first places, the Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde with twelve.

Bracket has no doubt that his record will fall sooner or later. “Now they have 13 World Cup races a year, we had eight or nine. If you’re as good as a Kilde or an Odermatt – he’ll definitely be a series winner in the downhill too – it’s only a matter of time. They’re driving Yes, all of them longer than we did back then. People also believed that Schumacher’s record in Formula 1 was one that would last forever.” He wasn’t, as Lewis Hamilton proved.

Bracket’s five victories in the downhill discipline ranking are also a record. He was never an overall World Cup winner like Odermatt (“he will be a nuisance to us Austrians for a long time”). Still, for Klemm, this is not a blemish on an illustrious career. “My career was a complete story. The overall World Cup would have been a bonus, the circumstances weren’t right.” He would probably have won it in 1975 without the results being canceled (only five of his eight downhill victories were counted), or if the tie had not been broken in the Megeve downhill. In the final parallel slalom he had no chance against the technicians Gustav Thöni and Ingemar Stenmark.

The last race was 1985

It’s been almost 39 years since Klemm’s last swing in the World Cup, it was in March 1985 in Aspen. The racing suit from his Olympic victory no longer fits him. “The proportions have shifted, but the weight has remained the same.” The Carinthian, who has lived in Vienna for decades, emphasized that he is healthy and does what he enjoys. “I live in Vienna, but here I’m in Carinthia.”

A third grandchild has now arrived. “I’m a ski instructor again.” He can no longer do 60 days of skiing a year like he did before Corona, “but I can actually always manage 30 to 40.” Also due to his work as head ambassador. Skiing, golfing, cycling – Austria’s three-time athlete of the year is still active in sports. “Fitness is quite okay.” Nothing stands in the way of the celebration marathon. “It’s going to be a blast.” But there is one problem: “The recovery phases take significantly longer than before.”

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