Mario Stecher (born 17 July 1977, in

Eisenerz Eisenerz (; "Iron ore") is a market place and old mining town in the Austrian state of Styria, . N.W. of Graz by rail. Pop. (2001) 6,400. It is situated in the deep Erzbach Valley, dominated on the east by the Pfaffenstein , on the west by the ...

) is an Austrian former

Nordic combined Nordic combined is a winter sport in which athletes compete in cross-country skiing (sport), cross-country skiing and ski jumping. The Nordic combined at the Winter Olympics has been held since the first ever 1924 Winter Olympics, Winter Olympic ...

skier. Competing in six

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

, he won three medals in the 4 x 5 km team event with two golds (

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

) and a bronze (

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

). Stecher's best individual finish was fifth in the 10 km individual normal hill event at

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

in 2010. He won six medals at the

FIS Nordic World Ski Championships The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships is a biennial nordic skiing event organized by the International Ski Federation (FIS). The World Championships was started in 1925 for men and opened for women's participation in 1954. World Championship e ...

with two gold, three silvers (7.5 km sprint:

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

, 4 x 5 km team:

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

) and a bronze (4 x 5 km team:

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

). Stecher has a total of nine World Cup victories since 1994, including the Nordic combined event at the

Holmenkollen ski festival The Holmenkollen Ski Festival ( no, Holmenkollen skifestival or ) is a traditional annual Nordic skiing event in Holmenkollen, Oslo, Norway. The full official name of the event is Holmenkollen FIS World Cup Nordic. History It takes place in March ...

that same year. Being 16 years old, he was the youngest winner on the Holmenkollen. - On February 27, 2015, he announced his retirement, after he wasn't nominated by the Austrian Ski Federation to compete in the FIS Nordic Skiing World Championships 2015 in

Falun Falun () is a city and the seat of Falun Municipality in Dalarna County, Sweden, with 37,291 inhabitants in 2010. It is also the capital of Dalarna County. Falun forms, together with Borlänge, a metropolitan area with just over 100,000 inhabita ...

. He is married to

Carina Raich Carina Raich (born 14 March 1979 in Arzl im Pitztal) is an Austrian former alpine skier who competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics, but like all her teammates she didn't finish the special slalom. Carina is the sister of Benjamin Raich but she reti ...

since 2008.

External links

*
Holmenkollen winners since 1892
– click Vinnere for downloadable pdf file * 1977 births Austrian male Nordic combined skiers Holmenkollen Ski Festival winners Living people Nordic combined skiers at the 1994 Winter Olympics Nordic combined skiers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Nordic combined skiers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Nordic combined skiers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Nordic combined skiers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Nordic combined skiers at the 2014 Winter Olympics Nordic combined Grand Prix winners Olympic gold medalists for Austria Olympic bronze medalists for Austria Olympic Nordic combined skiers for Austria Olympic medalists in Nordic combined FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in Nordic combined Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics People from Leoben District Skiers from Styria {{Nordic-skiing-bio-stub