Günther Mader (born 24 June 1964) is a former alpine ski racer and Olympic medalist from Austria. Born in Matrei am Brenner, Tyrol, he is one of only five men to have won World Cup races in all five alpine disciplines (downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom, and combined).
Career Mader made his World Cup debut at age 18 and competed for 16 seasons, including four Winter Olympics and seven world championships. He was the bronze medalist in the downhill at the 1992 Olympics and won a total of six medals in the world championships. He won his first championship medal, the silver medal in the slalom Race at Crans Montana in 1987, after only placing eighth after the first leg of the competition. Mader won two World Cup season titles, giant slalom in 1990 and combined in 1996, and placed second in the overall World Cup standings in 1995 and 1996, and third in 1990. Without his 14 wins, he did achieve another 27 places in World Cup races.
His only World Cup victory in downhill was the prestigious Hahnenkamm in Kitzbühel, Austria, in 1996 at age 31. Mader retired from competition after the 1998 season with 14 World Cup victories, 44 podiums, and 146 top ten finishes.Ski-db.com - results - Günther Mader - accessed 2011-01-16
Only 13 days after his retirement in March 1998, he suffered a stroke: as a result the right side of his body was paralysed and he lost 85 percent of his vocabulary. However he recovered to the greatest possible extent. After convalescence, he wrote a book titled ÜberLeben which covered his career, the stroke and his work as director of racing at ski manufacturer Salomon in Austria, a position he took up during his recovery from his stroke. ÜberLeben has a double meaning in German, translatable as "about life" but also as "survival".
World Cup victories Season titles Season Discipline1990Giant slalom1996Combined
Individual races 14 victories - (1 DH, 6 SG, 2 GS, 1 SL, 4 K) 44 podiums - (6 DH, 12 SG, 8 GS, 5 SL, 13 K) Season Date Location Race198621 Feb 1986 Wengen, Switzerland Combined2 Mar 1986 Geilo, Norway Slalom1988 20 Mar 1988 Åre, Sweden Combined 1990 2 Dec 1989 Mt. Ste. Anne, Canada Giant slalom30 Jan 1990 Les Menuires, France Super-G1991 6 Jan 1991 Garmisch, Germany Super-G1992 8 Mar 1992 Panorama, Canada Super-G1993 28 Mar 1993 Whistler, Canada Super-G1994 27 Nov 1993 Park City, USA Giant slalom12 Dec 1993 Val-d'Isère, France Super-G199516 Jan 1995 Kitzbühel, Austria Super-G1996 13 Jan 1996 Kitzbühel, Austria Downhill 14 Jan 1996 Combined1997 12 Jan 1997 Chamonix, France Combined
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