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 concept i ...

alpine ski racer and

Career

Born in

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

in Carinthia, Mayer made his World Cup debut in

Sestriere Sestriere (/se'strjɛre/) ( oc, Sestrieras, pms, Ël Sestrier, french: Sestrières) is a ski resort in Piedmont, Italy, a ''comune'' (municipality) of the Metropolitan City of Turin. It is situated in Val Susa, from the French border. Its name ...

in February 2009. 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 d ...

. After several top ten finishes, his first World Cup podium came at Kitzbühel in a super-G in January

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

. At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Mayer won the

downhill Downhill may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Downhill'' (1927 film), a British film by Alfred Hitchcock * ''Downhill'' (2014 film), a British comedy directed by James Rouse * ''Downhill'' (2016 film), a Chilean thriller directed by Patrici ...

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 e ...

. 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 ...

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 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

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. 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 ( lmo, Bormi, rm, italic=yes, , german: Worms im Veltlintal) 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 ...

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 Helmut Mayer (born 4 March 1966 in Verditz) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Austria. At the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary he won a silver medal in the Super-G competition at Nakiska. He also won a silver medal in the giant slal ...

(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 b ...

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; 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, ...

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, 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 of 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 Sportspeople from Carinthia (state) 21st-century Austrian people