Franz Heinzer

Last updated

Franz Heinzer
Personal information
Born (1962-04-11) April 11, 1962 (age 63)
Rickenbach, Schwyz, Switzerland
Occupation Alpine skier
Height181 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Skiing career
Disciplines Downhill, Super G,
Combined
World Cup debut 1981 – (age 18)
RetiredMarch 1994 – (age 31)
Olympics
Teams3 – (198894)
Medals0
World Championships
Teams6 – (198293)
Medals1 (1 gold)
World Cup
Seasons14 – (198194)
Wins17 – (15 DH, 2 K)
Podiums45
Overall titles0
Discipline titles4 – (3 DH, 1 SG)
Medal record
Men's alpine skiing
Representing Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg  Switzerland
World Cup race podiums
Event1st2nd3rd
Downhill15109
Super-G042
Combined221
Total171612
World Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1991 Saalbach Downhill

Franz Heinzer (born 11 April 1962 in Rickenbach, Schwyz, Switzerland) is a former alpine ski racer, who specialized in downhill. He was World Cup champion in downhill three consecutive seasons (1991, 1992, 1993), second only to Franz Klammer (4 consecutive). He won a total of 15 World Cup downhill races, fourth behind Klammer (25), Peter Müller (19) and Stephan Eberharter (18). Together with Franz Klammer, Toni Sailer, Jean Claude Killy, Karl Schranz and Stephan Eberharter, he is considered among the best downhill racers of all time. He also won the season title in Super-G in 1991.

Contents

Career

Heinzer won at the world's most famous downhill venues: Kitzbühel (3x), Wengen, Val Gardena (2x), Garmisch, Val-d'Isère, Aspen, Lake Louise, and St. Anton. His victory in the downhill event at the 1991 World Championships came after three fourth places at previous championships (Schladming (1982), Bormio (1985) and Crans-Montana (1987). He didn't compete in the downhill at Vail in 1989. At the 1994 Winter Olympics in Norway, his right binding released at the starting gate, putting him out of the downhill race. [1]

A month later, Heinzer retired from international competition at age 31 with 17 World Cup victories and 45 podiums. He now runs his own sports products company in Altdorf, and since the winter of 2004, also works as the assistant coach of Swiss national downhill team. [2]

The Franz Heinzer Piste in the Swiss ski resort of Stoos, a FIS-approved downhill run on the Klingenstock, is named in his honour. [3]

World Cup results

Season standings

SeasonAgeOverallSlalomGiant
Slalom
Super GDownhillCombined
1981 1836not
run
10
1982 192610
1983 202619not
awarded
199
1984 2161884
1985 2253662
1986 23131098
1987 2412253
1988 25816313
1989 26312014
1990 271721721
1991 28411
1992 29571
1993 30331
1994 31362916

Season titles

4 season titles: 3 downhill, 1 super G

SeasonDiscipline
1991 Downhill
Super-G
1992 Downhill
1993 Downhill

Individual races

17 race victories: 15 downhill, 2 combined

SeasonDateLocationRace
1983 19 December 1982 Val Gardena, Italy Combined
1984 9 December 1983 Val-d'Isère, France Downhill
10 December 1983Combined
1986 22 February 1986 Åre, SwedenDownhill
1987 4 January 1987 Laax, SwitzerlandDownhill
1988 11 March 1988 Beaver Creek, USA Downhill
1991 14 December 1990Val Gardena, ItalyDownhill
12 January 1991 Kitzbühel, AustriaDownhill
8 March 1991 Aspen, USADownhill
16 March 1991 Lake Louise, CanadaDownhill
1992 14 December 1991Val Gardena, ItalyDownhill
17 January 1992Kitzbühel, AustriaDownhill
18 January 1992Downhill
25 January 1992 Wengen, SwitzerlandDownhill
1993 10 January 1993 Garmisch, GermanyDownhill
16 January 1993 St. Anton, AustriaDownhill
23 January 1993 Veysonnaz, SwitzerlandDownhill

References

  1. "YouTube video: Franz Heinzer, 1994 Olympic downhill". Eurosport. 13 February 1994. Archived from the original on 22 December 2021. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
  2. "Franz Heinzer". Swiss Ski team. Archived from the original on 14 June 2015. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
  3. "Franz Heinzer Piste". myswitzerland.com. Switzerland Tourism. Retrieved 4 January 2018.