What Franz Klammer Taught Me That Day

Franz Klammer….

A name now mostly forgotten by the passage of time. Yet, as I am about to elaborate, he remains the architect of one of the most remarkable moments in sports history, perhaps even in all of history.

Who Was Franz Klammer?

An Austrian Olympic skier hailed as the best of his time. But after the ‘76 Winter Olympics, he transcended mere athletic greatness. Elevated to quasi-diety status, it wasn’t just for his skiing prowess, but for his audacious disregard for personal safety, his unwavering refusal to accept defeat, and his miraculous descent down the mountain to claim victory. 

Chasing Glory

Let's be honest... we all harbor dreams of such feats. Whether it's sinking the winning shot in the last second of a basketball game, defying everyone’s expectations, or getting into the school of our dreams, there is an undeniable magic in simply ‘going for it’?

Franz Klammer 1976 Innsbruck - The Greatest Downhill Run of All Time - FULL UNEDITED!!

Klammer's iconic run offers keen insight into navigating the complexities of our expectations.  

As you watch the video above of the most famous ski run in history, the anticipation of an impending crash grips you. You’re shouting at the screen, “Slow down, you crazy fool!” 

Every twist and turn we take alongside Klammer is on one ski. Watching this, we, like him, are reeling. 

We’re sure this ends in a crash. But what if there is no crash? What if, instead, the ending is a marvelous, gloriously improbable success? 

Can you imagine? 

Klammer did, that day in 1976. 

It would serve us well to pause for these potentially iconic moments, and suspend our disbelief a little bit longer just in case we prove ourselves wrong. 

Peak Performance

It's impossible to get down that hill, Klammer-style while thinking about crashing, losing, or really, anything else but victory.  

Was Klammer in ‘the zone, or experiencing ‘flow’? 

That legendary zen-like mental moment where you lose all track of time and space, and just "do it”. Nike still demands this state out of all of us– Just DO it! (Damnit!)

Is it really that simple? Just strip away all of your fears, doubts, and limitations to, all at once, achieve the unachievable and blast past your limiting beliefs?

My own opinion is that Klammer was not in the ‘zone’.  Even if he started there, one's flow state is probably stripped away with brute force as he’s teetering on the blade of one ski at 90 miles per hour while battling the out-of-bounds line, the trees, and even fans, trying to get a better look. 

Forging Legends

Instead of the zone, perhaps there is fear. 

After fear, there comes a split decision to ignore it all and go as fast as you can, until you can't. This is a different kind of zone– an ability to channel a core of human potential, greatness.... to become a legend. 

But Klammer's win was also about his willingness to forge a path different than the norm.  You see, Klammer had the misfortune of drawing dead last and was the 15th in line for the final round. This meant that by the time he skied, the snow on the best route down the hill was packed, rutted, and icy. 

But Klammer did not accept his apparent bad fortune. Rather, he calculated a risky strategy to avoid skiing down the hill in the middle, closest to the flags, like all of the others. 

Instead, he changed the geometry of his run to ski down the sides, almost out-of-bounds, where the snow was still fresh powder.  His zigzag trajectory down the mountain looked like the wild maneuvers of a man unhinged. 

This raises the question of what defines history. Will our legacy be limited to major military conflicts or political contests? Or could history encompass other exceptional human achievements that enlighten us about our unique identity, our potential, and the boundaries of possibility? 

Embracing risk and opting for an unconventional route will sometimes appear reckless at the moment. Klammer knew that summoning his confidence and executing precise calculations offered the most promising path to victory. 

For Klammer, the road less traveled was literally his only chance for success.

What did Franz Klammer teach me that day?  

That despite expectations, you don’t always crash.  

That even though winning seems next to impossible, you can sometimes defy the odds.  

Occasionally, what you perceive as the out-of-bounds of your limits could be the best path forward, a foundation from which all else springs. 

Klammer taught me that sometimes, you should be willing to change the geometry of your run, and perhaps you will discover that the far edges turn out to be right down the middle of where you want to go. 

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