Entering the 1976 Winter Olympics, the 22-year-old Klammer was the favorite to take the gold medal in the downhill at Innsbruck in his native Austria. He was the defending World Cup downhill champion, and had won the three previous downhills in January at Wengen, Morzine, and Kitzbühel, and also won the previous year's race on the same Patscherkofel course. Starting in 15th position, Klammer was the last of the top seeds, and knew that Russi had set a blistering pace and led by over a half-second. Klammer took heavy risks on the treacherous piste, skied on the edge of disaster, and won by 0.33 seconds to the delight of the Austrian fans. A dozen years earlier on the same course in 1964, Egon Zimmermann posted a 2:18.16 to win the gold medal; Klammer's 1:45.73 was more than thirty two seconds faster.