Fifty years after Franz Klammer launched his swashbuckling assault on the Patscherkofel slope above Innsbruck to claim the most enduring of men’s downhill gold medals, the traditional ‘blue riband’ event of the Winter Olympics is holding out for a new hero.
Whilst Lindsay Vonn’s ligament-defying exploits continue to stretch the column inches, few of the men’s top names find their achievements straying far beyond the traditional alpine nations where they are feted as heroes.
