Franz Heinzer

Franz Heinzer
— Alpine skier —
Disciplines Downhill, Super G,
Combined
Born April 11, 1962
Rickenbach, Schwyz, Switzerland
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
World Cup debut 1981 - (age 18)
Retired March 1994 - (age 31)
Olympics
Teams 3 - (1988–94)
Medals 0
World Championships
Teams 6 - (1982–93)
Medals 1 (1 gold)
World Cup
Seasons 14 - (1981–94)
Wins 17 - (15 DH, 2 K)
Podiums 45
Overall titles 0
Discipline titles 4 - (3 DH, 1 SG)

Franz Heinzer (born April 11, 1962 in Rickenbach, 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.

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]

World Cup results

Season standings

Season Age Overall Slalom Giant
Slalom 		Super G Downhill Combined
1981 18 36 — — not
run 		10 —
1982 19 26 — — 10 —
1983 20 26 — 19 not
awarded 		19 9
1984 21 6 — 18 8 4
1985 22 5 — 36 6 2
1986 23 13 — — 10 9 8
1987 24 12 — — 25 3 —
1988 25 8 — — 16 3 13
1989 26 31 — — 20 14 —
1990 27 17 — — 21 7 21
1991 28 4 — — 1 1 —
1992 29 5 — — 7 1 —
1993 30 3 — — 3 1 —
1994 31 36 — — 29 16 —

Season titles

4 season titles: 3 downhill, 1 super G

Season Discipline
1991 Downhill
Super-G
1992 Downhill
1993 Downhill

Individual races

17 race victories: 15 downhill, 2 combined

Season Date Location Race
1983 December 19, 1982 Val Gardena, Italy Combined
1984 December 9, 1983 Val-d'Isère, France Downhill
December 10, 1983 Combined
1986 February 22, 1986 Åre, Sweden Downhill
1987 January 4, 1987 Laax, Switzerland Downhill
1988 March 11, 1988 Beaver Creek, USA Downhill
1991 December 14, 1990 Val Gardena, Italy Downhill
January 12, 1991 Kitzbühel, Austria Downhill
March 8, 1991 Aspen, USA Downhill
March 16, 1991 Lake Louise, Canada Downhill
1992 December 14, 1991 Val Gardena, Italy Downhill
January 17, 1992 Kitzbühel, Austria Downhill
January 18, 1992 Downhill
January 25, 1992 Wengen, Switzerland Downhill
1993 January 10, 1993 Garmisch, Germany Downhill
January 16, 1993 St. Anton, Austria Downhill
January 23, 1993 Veysonnaz, Switzerland Downhill

References

  1. ↑ "YouTube video: Franz Heinzer, 1994 Olympic downhill". Eurosport. 13 February 1994. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
  2. ↑ "Franz Heinzer". Swiss Ski team. Retrieved 2 October 2012.

External links