Andreas Schifferer

Andreas Schifferer ( born August 3, 1974 in Radstadt ) is an Austrian former alpine skier. He was successful in the speed disciplines downhill and super -G and giant slalom. The nine-time Austrian champion won the bronze medal in the Super- G at the 2002 Winter Olympics and the bronze medal in the giant slalom at the World Championships in 1997. He celebrated eight wins in World Cup races and won in the 1997/98 season the downhill World Cup.

Career

Initial successes Schifferers showed in the winter 1992/93, when he ranked fifth in the downhill achieved at the Junior World Championship and Austrian Junior Champion in the Super- G was. The next winter he won his first national title in the Super- G and in combination. A further seven titles followed over the next ten years. In the European Cup he reached from the 1993/94 season and top rankings in the season 1994/95 he won with two wins and four additional podium finishes, the overall rating and the departure date. Even in the World Cup came Schifferer in winter 1994/95 already sporadically used and took with 25th place in the giant slalom in Adelboden his first World Cup points, end of the season he was 19th in the downhill in Bormio. After his European Cup success, he finally received for the 1995/96 season a Fixstartplatz in the World Cup. Already in the second season downhill in Val d'Isere he reached the sixth place and before the year he got second place in the downhill in Bormio first time on the podium. In January 1996, he came, however, when training on the Streif in Kitzbühel hard to fall, which is why he had to end the season prematurely.

Over the 1996/1997 season Schifferer found again to connect to the top and stood in January with third place in the traditional giant slalom on Chuenisbärgli in Adelboden on the podium again. In this discipline, he also won at the World Championships in 1997 in Sestriere, which as it turned out his only World Championship was the bronze medal; He also finished fifth in the downhill. After two more podium finishes in the World Cup, he celebrated on 13 March 1997 in the Super G Vail his first victory, which he finished the season in sixth and third in the overall World Cup super-G standings. In winter 1997/98 Schifferer was then the dominant downhill racers. With four wins and two additional podium finishes, he decided to consider the downhill World Cup itself. He also reached with other good finishes in the Super- G and giant slalom second place in the overall World Cup, but with a considerable gap to the overall winner Hermann Maier. At the season's peak, the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, it was not running for Schifferer however as desired. On the descent, he was started immediately after the spectacular failure Maiers and finished only seventh in super-G, he remained as 19 but well below expectations. For his downhill World Cup victory in 1998, he received the Golden Medal of Merit for Services to the Republic of Austria.

After an injury in the summer training Schifferer launched with great training deficit in the 1998/99 season, but in December he again reached the podium in giant slalom in Alta Badia. Also in downhill and super -G, he was a regular in the top ten, but that was enough in the strong Austrian team not to fix to qualify for the World Cup in Vail / Beaver Creek. Schifferer had in the qualifying races and failed to qualify. After this disappointment Schifferer won in March both departures in Kvitfjell, which he still reached the second place in the downhill World Cup. Also in the Super -G him reach the end of winter, two podiums, which he achieved the third place in this discipline World Cup and sixth in the overall World Cup was. Similar results as in the previous Schifferer achieved in the 1999/2000 season, which he ultimately but fell well behind his own expectations. The only win of the season he celebrated on 18 December 1999 in the downhill in Val Gardena, he stood three more times in the Super- G and giant slalom on the podium. In Downhill and Super - G World Cup, although it fell back to seventh and five, yet in the World Cup, he was able to improve for a place to fifth.

In the first weeks of the season 2000/ 01 Schifferer drove twice on the podium, but after a heavy crash in the giant slalom at Les Arcs on January 6, 2001, he had to prematurely end the season. In the winter of 2001/ 02 he was late back to the old form back, but with the third and fourth places in the two Super - Gs of Garmisch -Partenkirchen, he was still in the squad for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. There he started only in the super- G, in which he surprisingly won the bronze medal. The World Cup season was generally rather disappointing, only in the super - G World Cup he reached fifth place with a pleasing result. Over the next two years, Schifferer could not increase again crucial. Although he went again into the top ten, but podium places were exceptional and victories he achieved no more. Because participation in the 2003 World Cup in St. Moritz him was denied by a decision of the Austrian Ski Federation leadership, there were larger differences with the association that fought out Schifferer via the media. In the short term he thought to start for another country, then stopped but the Austrian Association. From the 2004/05 season but Schifferer finally lost the connection to the top and top- 10 finishes were becoming increasingly rare, even more material change could not change that. On 13 December 2006 he announced his resignation as a ski racer and thus ended his career.

Sporting successes

Olympic Winter Games

  • Nagano 1998: 7 Downhill, Super-G 19
  • Salt Lake City 2002: 3 Super -G

World Championships

  • Sestriere 1997: 3 Giant Slalom, 5 exit

Junior World Championships

  • Monte Campione 1993: 5 Downhill, Super-G 9

World Cup

  • Season 1996/ 97: 6 Overall World Cup, 3rd Super - G World Cup, 7th Combined World Cup, 8 giant slalom World Cup
  • 1997/98 season: 2nd Overall World Cup, first downhill World Cup, 5 Super G World Cup
  • Season 1998/99: 6 Overall World Cup, 2nd downhill World Cup, 3rd Super - G World Cup
  • Season 1999/ 00: 5 Overall World Cup super- G World Cup 5th, 7th downhill World Cup
  • Season 2000/ 01: 9, Giant Slalom World Cup
  • Season 2001/ 02: 5 Super - G World Cup
  • Season 2002/ 03: 8 Super - G World Cup
  • Season 2003/ 04: 9, Giant Slalom World Cup, 9 super- G World Cup

World Cup wins

Andreas Schifferer reached 8 wins, 7 second and 13 third places. In total, he drove in 109 World Cup races in the top ten.

European Cup

  • Season 1993/94: 7th overall, 2nd exit summary
  • Season 1994/95: 1st overall, 1st exit rating, 3 giant slalom standings, 9 super-G standings
  • 8 podiums, including two victories:

Austrian Championships

Schifferer is nine times Austrian Champion:

  • 5x Super -G ( 1994, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002)
  • 2x Departure ( 1999, 2002 )
  • 1x Giant Slalom (2004)
  • 1x Combination ( 1994)

Awards

  • Golden Order of Merit for Services to the Republic of Austria (1998)
61932
de