Australia's first World Cup medallist Malcolm Milne named among latest Snow Australia Medal recipients
Published Tue 07 Jul 2020
Australia’s first World Cup medallist Malcolm Milne has today been recognised alongside his 1968 Winter Olympics teammate Ross Martin and 1972 Winter Olympics teammate Steven Clifford, as the latest recipients of the Snow Australia Medal.
Milne made history in 1969, when he became the first Australian to win a World Cup medal, after he took out first place in downhill at Val-d'Isère.
Upon being awarded the Snow Australia Medal, Milne said he was incredibly humbled.
“I dedicated 10 years of my life, virtually 24 hours a day, to ski racing, and I might be paying for it now with some bad joints,” Milne joked.
“But to receive this honour - it means a lot to me.”
Snow Australia Medal Recipients |
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Steven Clifford |
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Ross Martin 1943 - 2011 Discipline: Cross-Country Skiing Olympic participations: Grenoble 1968 Medal awarded in: 2020 |
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Malcolm Milne 1948 Discipline: Alpine Skiing Olympic participations: Grenoble 1968, Sapporo 1972 International achievements: FIS World Cup Downhill Gold, Gardena 1969 | FIS World Championships Downhill Bronze, Gardena 1970 | FIS World Cup Downhill Bronze, Gardena 1970 Medal awarded in: 2020 |
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A Snow Australia Life Member and Australian Sports Hall of Fame inductee, Milne is regarded as one of Australia’s greatest skiers. But the path to the top was a tough road especially after the unfortunate loss of his brother Ross at the Innsbruck 1964 Winter Olympic Games.
“I was four years younger than my brother and he was the best skier in Australia at that stage, particularly at downhill,” Milne said.
“He was very good, and rose through the ranks very quickly in Europe, but at the ‘64 Olympics they were training a downhill course and when you’re training on a downhill course you’re not meant to stop.
“But he came around a very difficult corner, and there was very little snow on this course, it was very icy. There were four, maybe five, racers across the course and there was no room for him to get through.
“He had to try and ski sideways to get around them, but he caught an edge, flew into the forest and was killed.
“There were reports at the time that Australians weren’t good enough and that was why the accident happened.
“But I knew that wasn’t the reason, so I wanted to prove to the Europeans that we could beat them in downhill and that we (Australians) were good enough,” he said.
Milne was invited to France, to train with the French national teams.
“I started training with the French C team.... I worked my way up from the C team to the A team - they (France) had the best A team in Europe, in the world in fact, for the 10 years while I was there.
“Then in Val-d'Isère in 1969 - it was a beautiful course, very icy and fast as hell - I won the (World Cup) race.
“I was the first one to break the stranglehold of Switzerland, Austria and France in downhill - no one else had beaten them before and that was a great feeling.
“That win put me number one in downhill, and at that point I had achieved what I had set out to achieve and that made me, and still makes me, a very satisfied sportsman.
“That win opened up the door, and created opportunities not only for me, but the (Australian) snowsports athletes that came after me.
“You’ve got Steven Lee - he was a wonderful skier, just technically fantastic and a great fellow.
“And Zali Steggall - it was just amazing what she did.
“A lot has changed over the years - in my day there was a bale of hay up against a tree to stop you, and that was it.
“We were racing on sheer ice trying to beat the guy in front of you, and the one behind you.
“You had to overcome those nerves, and there was a fine line between going a little bit faster and risk crashing, or holding back and you could lose by a tenth of a second” he said
Milne said however, the thing that made him most proud was representing his country at an Olympic Games.
“At the Olympics I was representing my country, and I couldn’t get a better honour,” Milne said.
“I was very proud of that, it was the ultimate for me - walking out in the arena and holding the flag up, it was very special.”
Milne is the 20th recipient of the Snow Australia Medal, celebrating Australia's top snowsports athletes.