HKR Kitzbühel

All the very best!

All the very best!
06.10.2016
Anderl Molterer is celebrating his 85th birthday on October 8th. Kitzbühel Ski Club (K.S.C.) send their warm congratulations and wish him, above all, the best of health! ”Anderl, we look forward to seeing you again!“ Anderl Molterer is Hahnenkamm’s most successful athlete, with an incredible nine victories on the Streif and Ganslern slopes. The Kitzbühel man and former member of the Wonder Team currently lives in Nashville, USA, but still maintains very close ties with his hometown. Anderl - the “Blitz from Kitz” - is a legend. His unique style is simply incomparable and numerous major wins substantiate his incredible prowess. He entered the ranks of the ÖSV Austrian Ski Association national team in 1950, and won significant races in the self-same season. His brilliant form was confirmed two years later when he won 19 international ski races (three Downhills, five Giant Slaloms, five Slaloms and six Combined) in the season of 1952/53. In 1954, he “only” picked up bronze in the Giant Slalom at the World Ski Championships in Sweden. A big disappointment for the “Blitz from Kitz”. It was not until after the World Ski Championships that he returned to customary form, enabling him to triumph in the Combined at the Arlberg-Kandahar Races and Zermatt (SUI). He won eight titles in total during the World Cup season. In the winter of 1954/55, he won the Hahnenkamm Downhill and Combined and came second in the Slalom behind Toni Spiess. He celebrated three victories in Stowe (Vermont/USA) and also took the Combined title at the Harriman Cup in Sun Valley (USA). Anderl was a great idol overseas, which was also probably due to his friendly and likeable manner. During the 1956 Olympic season, Molterer’s first win was at Lauberhorn (Wengen/SUI). Toni Sailer dominated at the Hahnenkamm Races, winning the Downhill, Slalom and Combined. Soon afterwards, the Olympic winter games were held in Cortina D'Ampezzo (ITA). Toni was simply unbeatable, but Anderl won Silver in the Giant Slalom and bronze in the Downhill. He was eliminated from his favourite discipline, Slalom. Molterer was invincible at the 1956 Hahnenkamm Races. He triumphed in the Slalom, Downhill and Combined and was crowned champion again in 1959 when he won the Combined on the Ganslernhang Slope. The Downhill was won by an American, Budd Werner, for the very first time, Molterer came in fifth. In addition to his nine Hahnenkamm wins, he won the Austrian Championships no less than nine times. He participated in four World Ski Championships and two Olympic Games. After ending his amateur career he turned pro and achieved much success, including winning the Professional World Champion title three times over. During the mid-1960s, he founded the "Red Lodge International Summer Ski Racing Camp" together with Pepi Gramshammer and Erich Sailer and opened "Molterer Sports" in Aspen (Colorado / USA) in 1970, which he personally managed for 17 years. The “Blitz from Kitz” also received numerous awards and honours. In 2000, he was named the "Hahnenkamm-Champion of the Century", two years later he was accepted into the prestigious Colorado Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame. He is bearer of the Arlberg-Kandahar Honorary Diamond Award, received the Tyrolean Order of Merit for Sport and was distinguished with the “Grand Decoration of Honour in Silver for Services to the Republic of Austria”. List of successes