Beat Feuz and Marco Odermatt have each won the Lauberhorn downhill three times. But one Swiss was even more successful than the two exceptional skiers: here is the crazy story of Karl Molitor.
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- Karl "Moli" Molitor (†94) holds the record with eleven victories in Wengen.
- He celebrated his first triumph in 1939 at the age of 19 despite a fall. However, he had also taken a shortcut unnoticed at the time.
Karl "Moli" Molitor, who died in 2014 at the age of 94, won eleven races on the Lauberhorn, six of them in the downhill. He celebrated his first triumph in 1939 at the age of 19. But for this victory, the youngster reached deep into his bag of tricks. Molitor actually took a shortcut, a secret that he only revealed in old age. How was this possible?
On the evening before the race, the village teacher took him aside and explained that he and his pupils would carve a 150-metre shortcut between two gates in the deep snow for him. Instead of a right-hand turn, Molitor went straight down the mountain. He found the spot during the race, but it didn't give him any real advantage, the sly skier recalled: "It turned out to be so steep and narrow that I couldn't brake and promptly crashed when I turned onto the normal slope."
The fact that he crossed the finish line nine seconds ahead despite the fall actually suggests otherwise. And perhaps the timekeepers were still a little on his side, who knows for sure. Today, when races are watched by millions of people on TV, it's no longer so easy to cheat.
This article appeared in a slightly different form a year ago.
A must-do - Lauberhorn test
While we're looking back, we'd also like to recommend this video. Here you can race the downhill alongside Bernhard Russi. A pearl from 1986 - take part!