Anton Blasbichler

Anton Blasbichler ( born February 18, 1972 in Brixen ) is an Italian natural track luge. He was twice world champion in single-seater, three-time world champion in the team competition and twice European champion in single-seaters. With 20 victories in World Cup race he previously won the World Cup four times in the single-seater. In the first 19 World Cup seasons from 1992/1993 to 2010/ 2011, he always classified among the top eight in the single-seat World Cup and was not only three times in the top five.

Career

Blasbichler belongs to the sports group of the Italian Army ( Corpo Sportivo Italiano dell'Esercito ) and is a member of the Italian natural track luge team since 1989. The first international successes came at the Junior European Championships in 1990 and 1991, when he and his brother Christian won two silver medals together in doubles and 1991 also won gold in the single-seater.

In the general class Blasbichler starts almost exclusively in the single-seater. After he finished sixth and the World Cup in 1992 remained at the European Championship in 1991 as a fourth still without a medal, he was in 1993 in Stein an der Enns European champions. That same winter, he finished with a second place in Nova Levante as the best race result fifth overall in the inaugural World Cup. The first World Cup victory celebrated Blasbichler on 27 February in Moscow in 1994, which he won third place in the overall World Cup in the 1993/1994 season. The season 1994/1995 he also finished with a victory in fourth position. At the championships he reached in 1994 and 1995, however, front places: In the 1994 World Cup in Gsies he was eight and at the European Championships in 1995 in Kandalakscha tenth. In the 1995/1996 season is Blasbichler secured with three race wins and a further two podiums for the first time the overall World Cup victory, in front of the Austrian Gerhard Pilz, who also won three races. In the 1996/1997 season Blasbichler again won three races and for the second time the World Cup, this time ahead of his compatriot Martin Gruber. This winter, he played with Martin Psenner, several World Cup races in the doubles, reaching with him two podiums. At the World Championships in 1996 in Oberperfuss and at the 1998 World Cup in Rautavaara, he won the silver medal in 1998 at the same time with Martin Gruber. At the European Championship 1997, he was fourth.

In the World Cup season 1997/1998 Blasbichler for five years remained without a win for the first time and dropped back to fourth overall. In the 1998/1999 season he reached two more victories in Agordo and Herzogenaurach and thus the second place in the overall World Cup. The World Cup winner Reinhard Gruber had the same number of points as Blasbichler, but the overall competition was won due to better coating result. In February 1999 Blasbichler was in Szczyrk for the second time European champion and in January 2000 he won the bronze medal at the World Championships in Olang. The following year the Italian won his first world title. He won the World Championship 2001 in Stein an der Enns both in single-seaters as well as inaugural team competition. In the World Cup Blasbichler achieved in the seasons 1999/2000 and 2000/2001 with one win and three additional podiums the third and second place overall. In the next two years he remained without a win and finished second in the 2001/2002 season with four podium finishes third overall and in the 2002/2003 season with two podium finishes fourth overall. At the 2002 European Championships he finished sixth at the 2003 World Championships and fourth.

With four wins in the first four races of the season to Blasbichler secured in winter 2003/2004 for the third time and for the first time in seven years the overall World Cup victory. At the 2004 European Championships in Huttau but he remained in fifth without a medal. Also in the 2004/2005 season he won the first four races and for the fourth time overall World Cup. This time he also drove the highlight of the season, the World Cup in Laces, back on top. He became world champion in single-seaters and also won the bronze medal in the team competition. In addition, he was from 2003 to 2005 three times in a row Italian masters. After these two successful seasons Blasbichler won so far no other World Cup races and podiums he reached only rarely. In the winter of 2005/2006 he went to the podium only once, but three times came in fourth place and thus to fifth in the overall World Cup. In the 2006/2007 season two fourth places were his best results. In final standings he finished in seventh place and got away with it in the 15th World Cup season for the first time not in the top five in the overall World Cup. Even with the medal decisions he was unsuccessful in those years. At the European Championships in 2006, he finished ninth at the 2007 World Championships and only twelfth.

The 2007/2008 season began Blasbichler with a second rank in moss in pass eggs. Thereafter, however, he came only twice in the top ten and thus to sixth place in the overall World Cup. But a great success he achieved at the 2008 European Championships in Olang, where he met with only 18 hundredths of a second behind the Austrian Robert Batkowski won the silver medal one day before his 36th birthday. In the World Cup season 2008/2009 Blasbichler fell with only one top-5 result at the eighth place overall back, but in the 2009/2010 season he was able to improve with four fourth and a fifth place again in fourth place in the overall World Cup, where he only one point behind third-placed Gernot Schwab remained. At the 2009 World Championships in Moos in Passeier Blasbichler achieved while in singles only ranked eleventh, but was for the second time in his career team world champion. At the European Championships 2010 in St. Sebastian, he won the bronze medal in the single-seater, 17 years after he won his first European medal.

23 January 2011 Blasbichler was the fourth World Cup race of the season 2010/2011 in Kindberg as a third party for the first time in over three years on the podium again. Even in the final two World Cup races of the winter he went into the top three, which the now 39 -year-old reached the third place in the World Cup - his best overall placement for six years. At the World Cup 2011 in Umhausen he was the third time world champion team; in the single-seater, he finished eighth. In the season 2011/2012 Blasbichler dropped back to 16th place in the overall World Cup, as it was this winter in only three of the six World Cup races at the start. He was for the first time since the inaugural tournament of the World Cup in winter 1992/1993 is not in the top eight in the overall standings. At the European Championships 2012 in Novouralsk he was fifth in the single-seater and fourth in the team competition.

Achievements

World Championships

  • Bad Goisern 1992 4 seater
  • Gsies 1994: 8 seater
  • Oberperfuss 1996: 2 seater
  • Rautavaara 1998: 2 seater
  • Olang 2000: 3 seater
  • Stein an der Enns 2001: first single-seater, 1st team
  • Železniki 2003: 4 seater
  • Laces 2005: first single-seater, 3rd team
  • Grande Prairie 2007: 12 seater
  • Moos in Passeier 2009: 11 single-seater, 1st team
  • Umhausen 2011: 8 seater, 1st team

European Championships

  • Fie 1991: 6 seater
  • Stein an der Enns 1993: first single-seater
  • Kandalakscha 1995: 10 seater
  • Moos in Passeier 1997: 4 seater
  • Szczyrk 1999: first single-seater
  • Frantschach 2002: 6 seater
  • Huttau 2004: 5 seater
  • Umhausen 2006: 9 seater
  • Olang 2008: 2 seater
  • St. Sebastian 2010: 3 seater
  • Novouralsk 2012: 5 seater, 4 crew

European Junior Championships

  • Bruck 1989: 7 seater
  • Železniki 1990: 4 seater, 2 seater double
  • Kandalakscha 1991: 1 seater, 2 seater double

World Cup

  • 4x overall World Cup victory in the single-seater in the seasons 1995/1996, 1996/1997, 2003/2004 and 2004/2005
  • 2x 2nd place in the overall World Cup single-seater in the seasons 1998/1999 and 2000/2001
  • 4x 3rd place in the overall World Cup single-seater in the seasons 1993/1994, 1999/2000, 2001/2002 and 2010/2011
  • 2 podiums in doubles
  • 50 podium finishes in the single-seater, of which 20 wins:

* Same time as Patrick Pigneter

Italian Championships

  • Italian champion in single-seaters in 2003, 2004 and 2005
Italy FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships 1996 FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships 1998 FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships 2000 FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships 2001 FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships 2005 FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships 2009 FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships 2011 FIL European Luge Natural Track Championships 1993 FIL European Luge Natural Track Championships 1999 FIL European Luge Natural Track Championships 2008 FIL European Luge Natural Track Championships 2010 FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships FIL European Luge Natural Track Championships 1991 FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships 1992 FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships 1994 FIL European Luge Natural Track Championships 1995 Kandalaksha FIL European Luge Natural Track Championships 1997 FIL European Luge Natural Track Championships 2002 FIL European Luge Natural Track Championships 2004 FIL European Luge Natural Track Championships 2006 FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships 2007 Sankt Sebastian, Styria Obdach Unterammergau Federazione Italiana Sport Invernali Gerald Kallan Gerald Kammerlander Sonja Steinacher Armin Mair David Mair (natural track luger and skeleton racer) Melanie Batkowski Reinhard Beer Christian Schatz Renate Gietl Florian Clara Damiano Lugon Manfred Danklmaier Franz Obrist Erhard Mahlknecht Ferdinand Hirzegger
71486
de