Thomas SYKORA

A pure slalom specialist, Thomas Sykora came from an athletic family, notable for his aunt, Liese Sykora-Prokop, silver medalist in the pentathlon at the 1968 Olympics. Sykora won nine World Cup slalom races, and was on the podium 21 times, all in slalom. His Olympic bronze medal was won in slalom at Nagano in 1998 and he was Austrian slalom champion in 1996 and 1999.

Sykora’s career was relatively short, because of knee injuries, and he retired after failing to make the 2002 Austrian Olympic team. He was given a gold medal for meritorious service to the Austrian Republic in 1997 and a silver medal for services to Austria in 1998. In 2002 he received the Golden Cross of Honor for services to the State of Lower Austria (Niederösterreich). Sykora later became a commentator for televised ski races and was president of the football club FX Harreither Waidhofen an der Ybbs.