A momentous event in Kitzbühel 60 years ago
The 85th Hahnenkamm Races are taking place this year. Their 25th anniversary was celebrated in 1965 – with a Giant Slalom. Michael Huber was born the very next day, meaning the OC Chairman celebrates his 60th birthday this year on 25th January 2025.
60 years ago, the 25th anniversary of the Hahnenkamm Races was celebrated. There was much excitement surrounding the event, as they had been cancelled the year before due to a lack of snow, pushing the celebrations back a whole year. Race Weekend commenced with a Giant Slalom in 1965, which was routed down Ganslern Hill and the winner of which decided after a single run. The course was set by Peter Feyersinger, father of the present-day farmer who bears the same name.
Willy Favre from Switzerland won the race, ahead of the two Frenchmen Guy Perillat and Jean-Claude Killy. Gerhard Nenning from Vorarlberg came fourth. Herbert Huber and Rudi Sailer from Kitzbühel were 26th and 27th respectively. Two of the three forerunners also came from Kitzbühel Ski Club: Martin Kerscher and Christian Steinbach. Today, only older ski fans or sports historians can remember Giant Slaloms as part of the Hahnenkamm Races, but they took place no less than six times, most recently in 1970.
While there wasn’t enough snow to stage the races in 1964, almost too much of the stuff fell the night before the Downhill race on 23rd January 1965: Heini Messner drew the undesirable start number 1 and “struggled through fresh snow that was sometimes ankle-deep. To make matters worse, the mountain was swathed in a thick layer of fog. Many racers ended up ‘flying blind’ at the 25th anniversary Downhill race”, are the words used to describe the situation in Kitzbühel Ski Club’s chronicle. The controversial race was won by Germany‘s Ludwig Leitner ahead of Willy Favre (the previous day’s winner) and Ivo Mahlknecht from Italy.
Jean-Claude Killy won the Slalom the following day and, thanks to coming 10th in the Downhill, secured Combined victory ahead of Ludwig Leitner. Austria’s reputation was salvaged by Karl Schranz, who came third in the Combined. The man from Arlberg finished in disappointing 13th place in the Downhill but rallied in the Slalom and came second.
Electronic timekeeping was connected to an IBM data processing system in Böblingen for the first time in 1965, allowing the public to follow the times on an electronic scoreboard.
A momentous event occurred, however, the day after the anniversary races on Monday, 25th January 1965 when Michael Huber was born. The KSC President and Organising Committee Chairman celebrates his 60th birthday in 2025, the very same day as this year’s Downhill event.
Even though he grew up in a ski-racing family – his father Fritz was a member of the Kitzbühel Wonder Team and his Uncle Herbert won Olympic silver in 1968 – Michael did not aspire to embarking upon a ski racing career himself, “But I’m a champion at sliding down the icy Streif slope,” he once said with a smile during an interview with Austria’s ORF TV channel. The sports science graduate has been working for Kitzbühel Ski Club since 1990, when he took over the General Secretary’s office. After being unanimously elected as Club President in 2009, he said, “It is not only an honour, but it is also a great responsibility towards the club and its 5,744 members. We must preserve the legacy created by our predecessors, while venturing onto new horizons at the same time to safeguard the future of KSC.”
Something that Michael Huber has certainly achieved thus far. He was unanimously re-elected as President last year and the number of Club members has more than doubled since he took office. As Chairman of the Hahnenkamm Races Organising Committee, he has calmly been at the helm of this major event for 25 years, including the coronavirus period, when no spectators were allowed to attend in 2021. The empty finish area pained him for a considerable period, as fans are just as important to Michael Huber as safety along the racecourses or the respectful treatment of officials, employees, athletes and journalists.
He describes himself as an utter ski romanticist, who would love to travel back in time: “The first skiing boom happened in the middle of the 19th Century in Oslo, when prize money was originally awarded at races – that must have been fascinating. I would have loved to experience that. I’m also really interested in the early years of the Hahnenkamm Races – from 1925 to 1934. The beginnings of the World Cup in the mid-1960s is equally intriguing. That being said, I would love to know how things will be in 50 years’ time.”
But for now, the only certainty is how the father of two will spend his time after this year’s races are over: on ski tours with his wife, Teresa. His favourite book (by Emil Anton Pfeifer) is entitled, “Kitzbühel, sun and powder snow,” and he tries to enjoy this magical combination as often as possible.
Photo © K.S.C.-Archiv
