Ivo Mahlknecht

Ivo Mahlknecht was one of the best Italian skiers of the 1960s. Like many skiers of his time he skied all three disciplines: downhill, GS, and slalom. He competed at two editions of the Olympics – Innsbruck 1964 and Grenoble 1968 – with his best result a sixth place in the 1968 downhill. At the 1966 World Championships in Portillo (Chile) he was sixth in combined.

Mahlknecht competed in the first two editions of the World Cup in 1967 and 1968, but never made a podium. He won 10 Italian titles: four in downhill (1965-68), two in giant slalom (1964, 1968), three in slalom (1963-64, 1968), and one in combined. He retired following an injury in January 1969, then, after having held the position of slalom race director at the 1970 World Championships in Val Gardena, he became part of the technical cadre of what became the Valanga Azzurra (The Blue Avalanche).