Mader made his World Cup debut at age 18 and competed for 16 seasons, including four Winter Olympics and seven world championships. He was the bronze medalist in the downhill at the 1992 Olympics and won a total of six medals in the world championships. He won his first championship medal, the silver medal in the Slalom Race at Crans Montana in 1987, after only placing eighth after the first leg of the competition. Mader won two World Cup season titles, giant slalom in 1990 and combined in 1996, and placed second in the overall World Cup standings in 1995 and 1996, and third in 1990. Without his 14 wins, he did achieve another 27 places in World Cup races.
