Hanni Wenzel

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Hanni Wenzel
Hanni Wenzel.png
Personal information
Born (1956-12-14) 14 December 1956 (age 67)
Straubing, Bavaria,
West Germany
Occupation Alpine skier
Height1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Skiing career
Disciplines Giant slalom, slalom, combined, downhill, super-G
World Cup debut1 March 1972 (age 15)
RetiredMarch 1984 (age 27)
Website wwp-group.com
Olympics
Teams2 – (1976, 1980)
Medals4 (2 gold)
World Championships
Teams5 – (1974–82)
includes two Olympics
Medals9 (4 gold)
World Cup
Seasons13 – (1972–84)
Wins33
Podiums89
Overall titles2 – (1978, 1980)
Discipline titles5 – (2 GS, 1 SL, 2 K)
Medal record
Women's alpine skiing
Representing Flag of Liechtenstein.svg  Liechtenstein
World Cup race podiums
Event1st2nd3rd
Slalom111110
Giant slalom1299
Downhill203
Super-G010
Combined849
Total332531
International competitions
Event1st2nd3rd
Olympic Games 211
World Championships 432
Total643
Olympic Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1980 Lake Placid Giant slalom
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1980 Lake Placid Slalom
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 1980 Lake Placid Downhill
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 1976 Innsbruck Slalom
World Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1974 St. Moritz Slalom
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1980 Lake Placid Combined
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 1974 St. Moritz Combined
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 1978 Garmisch Combined
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 1976 Innsbruck Combined

Hannelore (Hanni) Wenzel [1] (born 14 December 1956) is a retired Liechtensteiner alpine ski racer. Wenzel is a former Olympic, World Cup, and world champion. She won Liechtenstein's first-ever Olympic medal at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, and its first two Olympic gold medals four years later in Lake Placid, New York. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Biography

Born in West Germany at Straubing, Bavaria, Wenzel moved to Liechtenstein at an early age. After she and her younger brother Andreas had success in ski racing – Hanni won the gold medal in slalom and silver in the combined at the 1974 World Championships – the family was granted Liechtenstein citizenship. Winning the slalom title on 8 February 1974, she did become the youngest female Alpine Skiing World Champion in the slalom discipline (17 years, 1 month, 25 days) - ousting Esme Mackinnon who was the first female Alpine Skiing Champion in 1931; the British racer was 17 years, 2 month and 17 days young when she was victorious in the slalom race on 19 February 1931. At the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, she won the country's first Olympic medal, a bronze in the slalom at Axamer Lizum, and also picked up another world championship medal in the combined.

After winning the World Cup overall title in 1978, Wenzel's best year came in 1980. At the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, she won gold medals in the slalom and giant slalom, and just missed out on a sweep by taking the silver in the downhill at Whiteface Mountain. She also easily won the world championship gold medal in the combined event, its final edition as a "paper race" and her fourth world championship medal in that event. At the same Olympics, her brother also won a silver medal, placing Liechtenstein high in the medal ranking of the games. In addition to her Olympic success, she won nine World Cup races in 1980 and captured the overall, giant slalom, and combined season titles, and brother Andreas won the men's overall for a Wenzel family sweep of the overall titles. Her daughter Tina Weirather won a bronze medal in Super-G for Liechtenstein at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.

Wenzel was banned from the 1984 Winter Olympics by the International Ski Federation (FIS) for accepting promotional payments directly, rather than through the national ski federation. Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden was also banned; both were double gold medalists in 1980. [5] [6] [7]

Wenzel retired following the 1984 season with two Olympic titles, four World titles, two overall World Cups, three discipline World Cups plus three combined titles, and 33 World Cup victories. (Through 1980, the Olympics were also the World Championships.)

Through the 2018 Winter Olympics, Liechtenstein has won a total of ten medals at the Winter Olympics, with eight won by two sets of siblings – the Wenzels earned six, while brothers Willi and Paul Frommelt are responsible for two more.

World cup results

Season titles

7 titles – (2 overall, 2 giant slalom, 1 slalom, 2 combined)

SeasonDiscipline
1974 Giant slalom
1978 Overall
Slalom
1980 Overall
Giant slalom
Combined
1983 Combined

Season standings

SeasonAgeOverallSlalomGiant
slalom		Super GDownhillCombined
1972 1540—27not
run		—not
awarded
1973 1656318
1974 1734116
1975 1822512
1976 199913166
1977 2055811not
awarded
1978 2111215
1979 2225210
1980 2312131
1981 2436392
1982 2519914——
1983 26245not
awarded		—1
1984 2727534

Race victories

SeasonDateLocationDiscipline
1974 19 Dec 1973 Flag of Austria.svg Zell am See, Austria Giant slalom
1975 21 Feb 1975 Flag of Japan.svg Naeba, Japan Slalom
14 Mar 1975 Flag of the United States.svg Sun Valley, USA Slalom
1977 19 Jan 1977 Flag of Austria.svg Schruns, Austria Combined
1978 15 Dec 1977 Flag of Italy.svg Madonna di Campiglio, Italy Giant slalom
10 Jan 1978  Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg   Les Mosses, SwitzerlandGiant slalom
22 Jan 1978 Flag of Yugoslavia (1946-1992).svg Maribor, Yugoslavia Slalom
24 Jan 1978 Flag of Germany.svg Berchtesgaden, West Germany Slalom
25 Jan 1978Slalom
2 Mar 1978 Flag of the United States.svg Stratton Mountain, USAGiant slalom
1979 12 Dec 1978 Flag of Italy.svg Piancavallo, ItalyGiant slalom
3 Feb 1979 Flag of Germany.svg Pfronten, West GermanySlalom
4 Feb 1979Combined
8 Feb 1979 Flag of Yugoslavia (1946-1992).svg Maribor, YugoslaviaSlalom
1980 8 Dec 1979 Flag of Italy.svg Limone Piemonte, ItalyGiant slalom
14 Dec 1979Combined
10 Jan 1980 Flag of Germany.svg Berchtesgaden, West GermanyGiant slalom
16 Jan 1980  Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg   Arosa, SwitzerlandGiant slalom
21 Jan 1980 Flag of Austria.svg Bad Gastein, AustriaSlalom
Combined
23 Jan 1980 Flag of Yugoslavia (1946-1992).svg Maribor, YugoslaviaSlalom
26 Jan 1980 Flag of France.svg Saint-Gervais, France Giant slalom
Flag of the United States.svg 1980 Winter Olympics
25 Feb 1980 Flag of the United States.svg Waterville Valley, USAGiant slalom
1981 27 Jan 1981 Flag of France.svg Les Gets, FranceCombined
8 Feb 1981 Flag of Germany.svg Zwiesel, West GermanyCombined
1982 12 Dec 1981 Flag of Italy.svg Piancavallo, ItalyCombined
18 Mar 1982 Flag of Japan.svg Furano, JapanGiant slalom
1983 30 Jan 1983  Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg   Les Diablerets, SwitzerlandCombined
1984 21 Dec 1983 Flag of Austria.svg Haus im Ennstal, Austria Downhill
22 Dec 1983Giant slalom
14 Jan 1984 Flag of Austria.svg Bad Gastein, AustriaDownhill
15 Jan 1984Combined
20 Mar 1984 Flag of Germany.svg Zwiesel, West GermanySlalom

World Championship results

  Year   Age  Slalom  Giant 
 slalom 		Super-GDownhillCombined
1974 1717not run132
1976 19 3 20 11 3
1978 21 6 5 29 2
1980 23 1 1 2 1
1982 25 DNF DNF — —

From 1948 through 1980, the Winter Olympics were also the World Championships for alpine skiing.
At the World Championships from 1954 through 1980, the combined was a "paper race" using the results of the three events (DH, GS, SL).

Olympic results Olympic rings.svg

  Year   Age  Slalom  Giant 
 slalom 		Super-GDownhillCombined
1976 19 3 20 not run 11 not run
1980 23 1 1 2
1984 27 — — —

Family

Wenzel is a sister of World Cup ski racers Petra Wenzel and Andreas Wenzel, and the wife of Austrian ski racer Harti Weirather, the world champion in downhill in 1982. Wenzel and Weirather run their own sports marketing agency, and their daughter Tina Weirather is also a World Cup ski racer. [4] [8]

Honours

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Alpine skiing: Weirather to miss Olympic Games through injury". Archived from the original on 10 March 2010. Retrieved 26 February 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). vancouver2010.com. 23 January 2010
  2. ↑ Steamboat Today: Olympic history: Winter games in the 1980s. steamboatpilot.com/ 13 February 2010
  3. ↑ Hanni Wenzel Archived 28 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine . The official website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games]
  4. 1 2 Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Hanni Wenzel". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 27 January 2011.
  5. ↑ "Ski stars banned from Olympics". Ottawa Citizen. Reuters. 26 November 1983. p. 71.
  6. ↑ "Ruling slaps Stenmark". Bend (OR) Bulletin. UPI. 7 November 1983. p. D-4.
  7. ↑ "Winter Olympics will take place without three alpine skiers". Palm Beach Post. wire services. 25 January 1984. p. D4.
  8. ↑ "Hanni WENZEL". Archived from the original on 3 March 2012. Retrieved 18 February 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). fisalpine.com
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