Vienna  - Toni Sailer, the athlete who helped shape Austria's image as a skiing nation, died at the age of 73, his skiing club in Kitzbuehel announced Tuesday.

The Tyrolean skiing icon passed away Monday after a long illness, the club said.

Sailer was the most successful racer in the history of alpine skiing world championships, winning seven gold and one silver medals in 1956 and 1958.

As the 1956 championships were part of the Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy, the athlete was also the first to win Olympic gold in all three disciplines of downhill, slalom and giant slalom.

Born as Anton Sailer in Kitzbuehel in 1935, he was trained as a glazier and tin smith.

Thanks to a skiing technique and training methods that were ahead of their time, Sailer won some 170 major races in his short sports career between 1946 and 1958.

After retiring from racing at the age of 23, he went on to become a successful film actor and singer.

Sailer's athletic success and show business career not only made him one of the first post-war idols in Austria, but won him fans as far as Japan.

Among his more than 20 films, Sailer shot one Japanese movie, Ginrei no Oja (King of the Silver Mountains), which premiered in 1960.

The skiing legend also became active in tourism, and acted as head coach and functionary of Austria's skiing team in the 1970ies. (dpa)