Karl Markt together with the two professional Hungarian boxers Karoly Balzsay (coached by Fritz Sdunek) and Zsolt Bedak from Universum Box-Promotion. Charly climbed into the boxing ring for a photo session. (Image credit: Ernst Lorenzi)
Karl "Charly" Markt became the third male pro to join the Felt Ötztal X-Bionic World Cup Team, which has already signed Austrian Under 23 champion Simon Scheiber and his German counterpart Manfred Reis.
At 29 years old, Markt, who is a business student, will be the senior rider on the team. The two-time Austrian marathon champion grew up in Zams, Austria, and now lives in Haiming at the entrance of the Ötztal, where he often trains with Scheiber.
Markt's greatest cross country achievements, besides being runner-up in 2009 are numerous top 20 World Cup placings. He makes the move from the SRM Stevens team and hopes to establish himself among the world's elite.
"I want to become Austrian Champion in cross country and land consistently in the top 20 in World Cup. But my biggest goal is London 2012 (for the Olympic Games)."
Team Manager Jörg Scheiderbauer expressed his confidence in Markt. "Karl was looking for a new challenge. If he trains hard and uses the internal competition within the team positively, he can improve his performance significantly. He is also very important for the younger riders on the team."
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Sue George is an editor at Cyclingnews. She coordinates all of the site's mountain bike race coverage and assists with the road, 'cross and track coverage.
