For what is reported to be the first time ever, an Iranian national is competing in an FIS World Cup Race this weekend, taking to the Hahnenkamm at Kitzbuhel.
I have always dreamed of taking part in the FIS world cup in Kitzbuhel and I will do what I can to score a point finish,”
says 24-year old Hossein Kalhor, who hails from the leading Iranian ski resort of Dizin. It sounds unbelievable.
The Iranian’s coach believes that the young athlete is well qualified, especially since his results at the international Grass-ski tournament were outstanding. At the world cup race in 2007, Kalhor took second place and this year he earned a bronze medal. Last year, he secured the Iranian ‘Champion of Champions’ title at the championship finals in Teheran.
For Kalhor, born in 1984, the son of a mountain farmer, the races in Austria are a return to the roots of his career: on 16 July 2004 he completed his first FIS Grasski race as part of the youth league in Bad Tatzmannsdorf, Austria.
The legendary race in Kitzbuhel is not everything for Kalhor. Beforehand, on 20 and 21 January, he is entering the giant slalom in Kirchberg and immediately afterwards, on 22 January, the slalom in Westendorf. The night slalom in Schladming on 27 January will form the conclusion of his Austrian tour.
Kalhor is not worried about the competition. “Although Grasski is not generally known in Austria, it is much harder and much more dangerous,” he smiles. “During the winter we train on the ski piste in order to be optimally prepared for the Grasski season in the summer,” says the Iranian.
Kalhor is no stranger to fame in Iran, beginning his life as the heaviest baby to be born in Iran, weighing in at nine kilograms (20lb).
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