President Putin at World Champs

Amongst the 50,000 spectators who saw ‘Super Mario’ Matt win the Slalom gold for Austra were the President's of Austria and Russia.

Austrian President Thomas Klestil, was joined by Vladimir Putin to view the final day's racing.

Regular visitors to Natives will recall that Putin has previously been described as 'a dedicated and accomplished skier' when spotted last year on the slopes at Krasnaya Polyana in the Caucasus Mountains.

On that occasion Putin apparently went heli-skiing. Yesterday he arrived by 25-car motorcade - which ended up putting the streets of St Anton into gridlock as it clogged up all the roads.