Born into a family of talented skiers, it didn’t take long for Alistair Guss to take his first steps on the snow, aged 4. He followed in the tracks of his uncle Simon Brown, an Olympian at Innsbruck 1964, and older brother Antony, also in the Australian Olympic team for Lake Placid 1980. Alistair and his older sister Marilla would eventually join the family club when they were both selected for the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovina. 

Guss had learnt the ropes with his sister at the Mt Buller Race Club, where their father was heavily involved in the administration. From there, ski racing took Guss first to the United States where he enjoyed a two-year stint in Aspen, Colorado, training with the junior Australian team, and then to Val d’Isere, France, training as an independent athlete before making the National team.

In 1984 Guss topped a good season producing a series of top-30 World Cup results in the space of two weeks, first in Kitzbuehel and then in Cortina d’Ampezzo, which sealed his selection for the Australian team headed to Sarajevo. Unfortunately Guss suffered a rupture in his right shoulder on the last training day for the Olympic Downhill, which jeopardized his participation in the event. 

Guss went through the Opening Ceremony in tears, thinking he would not be able to compete, but a bad snowstorm the next day injected new hope into his Olympic dream. The weather delays forced the organisers to postpone the race and allowed the team doctors to kickstart Guss’ recovery. The 1984 Olympic Downhill was eventually run a full week after originally scheduled. Despite not being nearly close to peak fitness, racing with a stick strapped to his hand and unable to push out of the starting gate, Guss still managed an impressive 34th place, finishing behind roommate and sport role model Steve Lee (19th).

After he retired from competitive ski racing, Guss maintained strong bonds with his teammates, a tight-knit group which included Lee, Peter Forras, Richard Biggins and Anton Mandlik. He also managed to balance his success as co-founder and owner of multiple businesses in the technology and engineering sectors with his love for family and snow, accompanying his children Ysabel and Angus through their own Alpine and Mogul skiing journeys and contributing to the growth of the Mt Buller Race Club.