Matthias Mayer (; born 9 June 1990) is an Austrian retired

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

alpine ski racer and

Career

Born in

Afritz am See Afritz am See () is a municipality in Villach-Land District in the Austrian state of Carinthia (state), Carinthia. Name The name ''Afritz'' is ultimately derived from the Slovene prepositional phrase ''za brdce'' 'behind the small hill'. The Slove ...

Carinthia Carinthia ( ; ; ) is the southernmost and least densely populated States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The Lake Wolayer is a mountain lake on the Carinthian side of the Carnic Main ...

, Mayer made his World Cup debut in

Sestriere Sestriere (, , , ) is a ski resort in Piedmont, Italy, a ''comune'' (municipality) of the Metropolitan City of Turin. It is situated in Val Susa, from the France, French border. Its name derives from Latin language, Latin: ''ad petram sistrariam ...

in February

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

. His best discipline is

super-G Super giant slalom, or super-G, is a racing discipline of alpine skiing. Along with the faster downhill, it is regarded as a "speed" event, in contrast to the technical events giant slalom and slalom. It debuted as an official World Cup event ...

. After several top ten finishes, his first World Cup podium came at

Kitzbühel Kitzbühel (, also: ; ) is a town rights, medieval town situated in the Kitzbühel Alps along the river Kitzbüheler Ache in Tyrol (state), Tyrol, Austria, about east of the state capital Innsbruck and is the administrative centre of the Kitzbüh ...

in a super-G in January

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

. At the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...

, Russia, Mayer won the downhill to become the seventh Austrian gold medalist in the 18th edition of the

event Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of eve ...

. Joining him on the podium at Rosa Khutor were

Christof Innerhofer Christof Innerhofer (born 17 December 1984) is an Italian World Cup alpine ski racer, the 2011 world champion in super-G. in all five alpine disciplines and specializes in the speed events of downhill Biography Born in Bruneck, Innerhofer li ...

of Italy and

Kjetil Jansrud Kjetil Jansrud (born 28 August 1985) is a Norwegian former World Cup alpine ski racer and Olympic champion. He competed in all alpine disciplines apart from slalom, and his best event was the giant slalom where he has six World Cup podiums and ...

of Norway. Immediately after the Olympics, he had two podium finishes in Norway, and a victory at the World Cup finals. He won his second Olympic gold medal in

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

in the super G. At the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), were an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beijing, China, and surrounding areas wit ...

, 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. 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 Bormio (, , ) is a town and ''comune'' with a population of about 4,100 located in the Province of Sondrio, Lombardy region of the Alps in northern Italy. The centre of the upper Valtellina valley, it is a popular winter sports resort. It was the ...

he was scheduled to start. 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 Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

; he also won a silver medal at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

, in the giant slalom

World cup results

Season standings

Race victories

* 11 wins – (7 DH, 3 SG, 1 AC) * 45 podiums – (22 DH, 22 SG, 1 AC)

World Championship results

Olympic results

References

External links

* *
Austrian Ski team
– official site – Matthias Mayer
Head Skis
– Matthias Mayer * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mayer, Matthias 1990 births Austrian male alpine skiers Alpine skiers at the 2014 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 2018 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic alpine skiers for Austria Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2018 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in alpine skiing Olympic gold medalists for Austria Olympic bronze medalists for Austria People from Sankt Veit an der Glan Living people Skiers from Carinthia 21st-century Austrian sportsmen