Florian Maurer and Christian Zach were among the best speed skiers in Germany.
At the 1992 Winter Olympics, they raced down the slopes at around 200 kilometers per hour.
Moos / Granting
- For many you were considered "madmen" and "tired of life".
Even the TV presenters made little secret of the fact that high-speed ski racing, that is, speed skiing, was not something to be taken seriously for them.
But Florian Maurer from Moos and Christian Zach from Granting (municipality of Taufkirchen) took it very seriously.
The two friends, who are now 56, made it as German participants to the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, where speed driving was held as a demonstration competition (see box below).
Back then, Maurer raced down the slope in Les Arcs, which has a 70 percent gradient, at 201.794 kilometers per hour - that was (once again) a German record.
He finished 29th, and Zach finished 32nd with 194,280 kilometers per hour.
+
Zwoa wuide dog: Florian Maurer (left) and Christian Zach made the slopes unsafe as young boys.
© Private
It was a coincidence that the two of them came to this sport.
In 1985, Maurer saw a report on “Sport am Montag” on ORF about the sport, which was still unknown in Germany, and was fascinated.
For both of them it should be the opportunity to get out of their “little skier depression”.
Because the two were great talents, but the professional support was missing to achieve great sporting success earlier.
Actually, by this point in time, they had almost ticked off their ski careers.
The two learned to ski in the “Wetzlinger Alps”, just around the corner, where they competed in their first races as three-year-old boys.
“We crashed down that the whistle just whistled.
The last shot was always about who was the fastest, ”says Zach.
As young people, as members of the ski department of TSV Velden, they were at the forefront of ski races in the districts of Erding and Landshut.
Zach was more successful then.
At 17 he was already Velden club champion and asserted himself against the adult competitors.
First races with the hole skis
“We always wanted to ski real descents,” he says.
But because there was no opportunity, they took part in the downhill runs in Söll, Hopfgarten or the Davos Parsenn Derby.
They drove these with the then very popular hole skis and motorcycle helmets, all financed out of their own pockets.
“Sakradi, we went up there.
We were already on the road like a greenhorn ”, ponders Zach and tells how he was“ so thrown out during training on the Kandahar in Garmisch that I think I'm dead ”.
And Maurer recalls his nocturnal falls, which he survived without major wounds.
It's a mental story, the stress, the tension, you know very well that after 50 meters there is no turning back.
Florian Maurer describes the feelings immediately before the start
At the age of 20, despite a few training sessions with C and B squad runners from the Munich Regional Association, they were too old for a career as a professional downhill racer, they realized with frustration.
“That was the end of the story for us.
It was a bitter moment. ”That was 1984/85.
Then Maurer saw the "ominous" sports report about high-speed ski world champion Gerhard Pottler, contacted him and a short time later drove with his brother Hans to Les Arc (France) to watch a high-speed race live.
Pottler organized that, as a forerunner, he was allowed to race down on his bright yellow downhill skis - at almost 160 kilometers per hour.
Then it happened to the then 22-year-old.
The first thing he did was call Zach's home and tell him how brutal it was down there, and that the wind pressure had put his helmet up and his ski goggles in his eyes so that he could hardly see anything.
Aerodynamic helmets and suits made from vulcanized latex
In Switzerland, they got themselves aerodynamic helmets and suits made of "vulcanized latex, but very dense and elastic and everything was extremely expensive custom-made," explains the Grantinger.
"High-speed is a material battle and costs a lot of money." At first it was difficult to find training routes.
Nevertheless, they were "pretty good at it" in the first races, in Le Crosets or Val Thorens they even made it into the top ten - although both fell in the same place in the finals.
Maurer slid across the adjacent reservoir: "I lost everything, skis, spoilers, helmet, good that it was frozen over, otherwise I would probably have flooded," he says with a grin.
The whole back was blue, abraded and full of burns.
Zach "just" broke the ski apart and flew around.
+
Down the fall line: Christian Zach on skis.
© Jörg Reuther
The Unger family from Wartenberg came into play during the preparations for the Olympic Games: their son Marco and his father Günther, both excellent service men and tinkerers.
The skis were 2.4 meters long, weighed twelve kilos and, thanks to the Ungers, were sensationally prepared.
“We owe you a lot.
They prepared our skis perfectly, ”emphasize the two racing drivers.
Together with them they also tinkered the spoilers that were installed on the calves and the helmet to be more streamlined: "We looked like Darth Vader in colorful."
+
Florian Maurer broke the German record at the Winter Olympics with 201.794 kilometers per hour.
© Jörg Reuther
Many would have quickly stopped playing because they couldn't stand the pressure.
"It's a mental story, the stress, the tension shortly before the start, you know very well that after 50 meters there is no turning back," Maurer describes the circumstances.
"It's very quiet at the start area, there is eerie tension and you have to tunnel your way completely into your run, be extremely focused." It was not uncommon for drivers to back off immediately before the start, but that was totally in the scene will be accepted.
On the fastest high-speed route in the world
The Olympic course in Les Arc even gave them enormous respect, with a length of 1740 meters, a "vertical drop", ie an acceleration distance of 565 meters, and a start at a height of 2700 meters.
At the time, it was considered the fastest high-speed route in the world: “It's like going down a steep chasm.” A rope was laid out at the start in order to even find a stand with the skis.
Both goals were to be the first German to break the "sound barrier" of 200 kilometers per hour.
From our Erdings Top 100 series:
Martin Brandlhuber, the Marc Girardelli from St. Wolfgang
They felt well prepared and had their service team with them.
“We didn't have to worry about anything.” Even a fan club had traveled with us - and their parents, who were among the 20,000 spectators in the finish area.
With each run they had to re-qualify for the next lap in order to always start between 50 and 70 meters higher and reach a higher speed.
Before the quarter-finals, Maurer hadn't slept an hour, he was so excited.
Because he knew: this is the chance of a lifetime.
“When you go down in the deepest crouch, you have an extremely narrow field of vision.” The only point of orientation are the flags at the edge of the track, he says and puts on his old helmet again, which he took from the attic to demonstrate.
He says: "It still smells like it did 30 years ago." And he proudly adds: "We broke the German record 18 times."
A few doors opened professionally
Zach started with pain and narrowly missed the quarter-finals by 0.2 km / h.
As it turned out later, he had a tear in his lung without knowing about it.
The Grantinger was delighted that his friend broke the 200 barrier and set a German record.
“He was always a little better than me at high speed.
It's a wonderful story.
I would have done anything for him and he would have done anything for me, ”enthuses Zach.
In retrospect, they are annoyed that they weren't better prepared.
“We should have given up our jobs for a year.
We were already on the Olympic course in 1990/91 and should have trained as much as possible there, driven a lot, less strength training, ”says Zach looking back.
+
In great demand: Florian Maurer signs autographs on Christian Zach's back.
© Private
The feedback after the Olympic Games was “outstanding,” says Maurer.
“Some of the people even called me at 10 p.m. and asked how fast we were going.” The duo was the talk of the day for a long time.
In the Musikpalast, their regular disco in Taufkirchen, they were greeted by the DJ over the microphone as "the high-speed drivers of the Olympics", and District Administrator Xaver Bauer honored them as the district's first Olympic athlete.
Maurer had some television appearances, including on SAT breakfast television and in the ZDF sports studio, where the moderators were very critical of this exotic sport, although there were strict FIS regulations and an internationally organized FIS World Cup, with everything that goes with it.
Maurer was still a high-speed driver until 1995.
Then it was no longer an issue for him, even if it opened a few doors for him professionally.
In 1996, his son David was already five years old, he started at the machine manufacturer Montana - a supplier for winter sports equipment - where Marco Unger worked as a service technician.
Maurer is now working there as sales manager.
Zach had given up his sports career because of his lung problems.
"It was a crazy scene with a lot of birds of paradise," he says afterwards.
From our Erdings Top 100 series:
Karl Pfeiffer: Faster than Olympic
rider
and world champion
Nevertheless, they are experiences that you will never forget, especially the fact that they made it to the Olympic Games together.
“Nobody thought we could do it,” says Maurer proudly.
"For us it was a super cool and enormously exciting experience that shaped us very much." In 2000 the two friends met again, then the fun carvers started.
But this is another story.
Birgit Lang
Big stage at the 1992 Olympic Games in Albertville
The first high-speed ski competitions were held in the 1930s.
The Austrian Gustav Lantschner set the first official record at 105 km / h in St. Moritz.
A year later Leo Gasperl improved the record to 136.6 km / h, and in 1978 Steve Mc Kinney (USA) broke the 200 km / h mark in Chile.
However, official statistics under the new term speed skiing have only been kept since 1982.
Speed skiing has long been a domain of the Austrians.
In 1999 Harry Egger from Tyrol drove a record of 248.1 km / h that lasted for three years.
Philippe Goitschel was the first speed skier to break the 250 km / h mark.
The Italian Ivan Origone set the current world record of 254.958 km / h on March 26, 2016 in Vars.
There, his Italian compatriot Valentina Greggio set the world record for women with 247.083 km / h.
Speed skiing is practiced exclusively as a competitive sport and as such is strictly regulated by the International Ski Federation (FIS).
The professional association (France Ski de Vitesse) also organizes regular competitions.
However, speed skiing is very accident-prone, and so the FIS has now set a speed limit of 200 km / h for FIS races.
In 1992, speed skiing was even a demonstration sport at the Winter Olympics in Albertville, but never became an established Olympic sport.
mel (source: Wikipedia)
You can find more portraits from our Erdings Top 100 series on our overview page.
