Franz’s wife said, ‘no, sorry, that is not a story.’” Two or three times we tried to bring a good story. “I thought, ‘Franz is the most famous Carinthian and we should do something with him,’” said Kresse. Twice he took the concept to filmmakers and twice it went nowhere. “I remember, after he won, we all went outside and played like we were Franz Klammer!”īut Kresse, a notable figure in marketing, found it hard to bring his dream to closure.
He remembered that day in 1976 as a six-year-old boy, crowded together with his kindergarten classmates watching on a miniature television at school. In his heart, Kresse believed in the story. “Like Muhammad Ali for boxing, Wayne Gretzky for ice hockey or Tiger Woods for golf. “Franz is a testimonial for skiing,” said Kresse. The fear of many was that the remarkable success of the Austrian ski racer would get passed by over the generations.Ĭhristian Kresse, the tourism chief for the state of Carinthia, wanted to change that and to bring Klammer’s story to the screen – a process that began nearly eight years earlier. “And then I knew immediately that ski racing would be my life.” Origin of a filmįor nearly a half-century, the story of the country boy finding gold has begged for the silver screen. He rode his first chairlift at eight, and he didn’t start ski racing until he was 14. It was the best babysitter because I was already out there on skis, skiing up and down to a little village up in the mountain. “Ever since I can remember, I have been on skis. “My mother put me on skis when I was two years old,” reminisced Klammer. But young Franz loved the snow, skiing to school in the winter and climbing up hills on his own to come racing back down. His tiny village of Mooswald, north of Villach, was situated in the mountains but without a ski lift. Instead, he was born in the southernmost Austrian state of Carinthia, a region with lesser-known mountains and a bit outside the ski racing spotlight. He didn’t grow up in the shadow of the towering Tyrolean Alps. In many ways, Klammer was an unlikely champion. Ski Team star Daron Rahlves, gets ready to push out of the starting gate in “ Chasing the Line.” (Picturetree International) Moritz, silver in downhill.įranz Klammer, played here by U.S. In 1974, he took home World Championship gold in combined at St. A season earlier in 1974-75, he won an unprecedented eight World Cup downhills. Klammer came into the 1976 Olympics with three straight World Cup downhill wins and back-to-back Hahnenkamm titles. Four Hahnenkamm downhill titles (only Didier Cuche has more, with five). Five World Cup downhill crystal globes (most ever for men). Here’s the scorecard: 25 World Cup downhill wins – the most by any man in history (Peter Müller has 19). While the 1976 downhill gold medal is his calling card, the long term athletic success he achieved has rarely been rivaled, even a half-century later. Impact of the Kaiserįew past stars of ski sport command attention today like Franz Klammer. Showings in the United States and Canada are pending. Berlin-based Picturetree International is managing global distribution. 26 in Villach, Austria, near Klammer’s childhood home of Mooswald. The story of the Austrian legend comes to the big screen this month with the release of “Chasing the Line.” The feature-length film debuted with a screening Sept. Today, more than 45 years later, its legend still lives on, an enduring story of what many consider to be the greatest ski race of all time. The 1976 Olympic downhill was arguably the most anticipated Winter Olympic event in history – a matchup with the veteran, defending gold medalist Bernhard Russi of Switzerland, and the upstart young Austrian farm boy Franz Klammer. It would also usher in a new era of ski racing as a global sport while hundreds of millions of viewers watched his ‘Klammer Style’ run to Olympic gold. The next one minute, 45.73 seconds would change Franz Klammer’s life forever. Alongside the ski track outside Innsbruck, 60,000 fans lined the piste. Every set of Austrian eyes were tuned in to ORF across the far corners of the land. School playgrounds were quiet and the capital of Vienna was empty. Across all of Austria, there was nary a single person on a village street.
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