Max Gartner

Max Gartner was a successful coach and sports executive, with both men’s and women’s alpine teams, coaching many of Canada’s biggest ski racing stars including Thomas Grandi, Cary Mullen, Ed Podivinsky, Erik Guay, Manuel Osborne-Paradis and many others.

In the early 2000s, Gartner took on the role of Chief Athletic Officer at Alpine Canada, overseeing the country’s ski racing programs before he moved into the role of president in 2010. During his time as president and CEO of the national governing body, Gartner emphasized the importance of safety in ski racing and in 2011 he hosted a national ski racing Safety Summit. A year later, a second summit was held with a special emphasis on safety in the sport of ski cross, with a number of the recommendations announced at the summit were later accepted and adopted by the International Ski Federation.

Born in Linz, Austria, on October 19, 1958, Max Gartner, spent five years at the Stams Academy in Austria, the premier academic school in the world for producing world-class skiers. Gartner was an accomplished ski racer in Austria as well as playing soccer professionally in Germany and Austria from 1977 to 1981. At the University of Innsbruck, he studied physical education and psychology prior to pursuing studies in training science at the University of Vienna.

His involvement in the development of world-class training programs has enabled Canadian alpine skiers to achieve success at many competitive levels, Olympic Games, the World Cup circuit, world junior championships, the Goodwill Games as well on the Nor-Am tour, where many of the athletes under his guidance won overall titles. In 1991, he was named Coach of the Year by the Canadian Ski Coaches Federation.

Under his guidance, the Canadian ski team experienced a resurgence in the technical disciplines with an all-time record of 2,589 World Cup points in 2004-05. That record was broken again in the 2005-06 season when the team accumulated 3,260 World Cup points including 39 top-10 finishes (just two short of the record of 41 in 1987-88) and 12 podium finishes. Also during this time the Canadian men’s team claimed two world championship titles, both in downhill.

Since his days as a national sports leader, Max co-founded Gold Mettle – a company focusing on providing sport insight to maximize performance – along with his wife, Olympic champion Kerrin Lee-Gartner.

Max Gartner made a significant contribution to the culture of athletic excellence and safety during his team in various coaching and leadership roles within the Canadian ski racing system, creating a lasting effect which carries on today.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: 

• 1981-1982 – Coach, Dutch national team.

• 1982-1983 – Assistant Coach, Canadian women’s ski team.

• 1983-1986 – Head Coach, Canadian women’s technical team.

• 1986-1991 – Technical Director & Head Coach, Alberta ski team.

• 1991-1992 – Head Coach, Western regional ski team.

• 1992-1994 – Personal Coach to Kerrin Lee-Gartner.

• 1994-1995 – Technical Director, Alberta Alpine.

• 1995-1998 – Independent Sport Consultant.

• 1998-2000 – Team Manager, Canadian men’s team.

• 2003-2004 – V-P, Canadian Development Programs, Alpine Canada.

• 2004-2006 – Chief Athletic Officer, Alpine Canada.

• 2006 – Director, Own the Podium Project, Alpine Canada.

• 2006 – Named Canada’s representative on the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup subcommittee.

Note: The information gathered in this biography was compiled from a number of sources; it may not be inclusive of all accomplishments. Copyright © Canadian Ski Hall of Fame & Museum. For personal and/or educational use only. All rights reserved.