Ski Club Arlberg celebrates 125 years of ski success

The Ski Club Arlberg will celebrate its 125th anniversary with a gala evening in St. Anton on Saturday, ORF reports. The club is considered one of the world’s oldest and most influential organisations in skiing.

Its athletes have won 118 medals at the Olympic Games and World Championships, including six Olympic gold medals. The most recent Olympic gold for the club came from Mario Matt, who won the slalom at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Matt, from Flirsch in the Landeck district, had already won gold at the 2001 World Championships in St. Anton, held during the club’s centenary year. “In that moment, you do not really realise what you have achieved. That only came many years later,” Matt told ORF Tirol.

Stefan Jochum, the club’s vice-president, said the success of its racers had helped build the organisation’s reputation internationally. Former athletes went on to establish ski schools and manage ski resorts in different places, while the club also played a leading role in developing skiing technique.

The club has focused on youth development from the outset. “Our task across the entire Arlberg was to ensure that the children who live and grow up here can ski,” Jochum said.

The Ski Club Arlberg comprises four local branches: St. Anton am Arlberg in Tyrol, and Lech, Zürs and Stuben in Vorarlberg.

The 2001 World Championships were the club’s biggest anniversary gift for its 100th year. St. Anton now wants to host the Alpine World Ski Championships again in 2033, which would give local athletes another opportunity to add to the club’s medal tally at home.