Brigitte Totschnig

Brigitte Totschnig (married Brigitte Habersatter, born August 30, 1954 in Radstadt, Salzburg) is a former alpine skier from Filzmoos, Austria. She won the silver medal in the downhill at the Winter Olympic Games in 1976, eight World Cup races and twice the downhill World Cup. She is married to the former ski jumper Walter Habersatter junior. Her sisters Sigrid and Andrea were also ski racers.

Career

Brigitte Totschnig came at the age of six years to Filzmoos Ski Club. As a teenager she was one of the best runners in her age group, but was set back by injuries several times. She was Austrian Champion in slalom students in 1968 in the giant slalom and in the combination. In 1969, she contested the age of 15 her first World Cup race. In the next few years she developed mainly in the downhill to a world class runner. The first World Cup points they won on 11 December 1971, ninth in the downhill in Val d'Isere and six days later she went in Sestriere in eighth place. In January 1972, she reached the fifth place, which they buy a ticket for the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo secured in the departure of Grindelwald. There she was ranked 15 in the downhill.

In the 1972/73 season Totschnig reach with two third places in the slopes of Saalbach -Hinterglemm and Grindelwald, the first podium in the World Cup. With four other top 10 results they finished sixth in the downhill World Cup. The next winter top rankings were made , however. Her best World Cup result was the seventh place in the departure of Zell am See, which is why they did not play at the World Cup in 1974. She started increasing in the European Cup, where she was with a win and two podium finishes second in the downhill standings and fifth in the overall standings. Also in the season 1974/75 she has succeeded no top places in the World Cup. Your only World Cup points they won in Schruns, where she finished sixth in the downhill and ninth in the combination.

In the 1975/76 season, their performance improved again significantly. On December 10, 1975, she celebrated her first World Cup victory in the departure of Aprica and after two second place finishes in the downhill and the combination of Cortina d' Ampezzo she succeeded on January 7, the second win in the downhill in Hasliberg. So it was at the Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck in 1976, which were considered World Cup at the same time, one of the big favorites. On the Axamer Lizum Totschnig but was referred by the German Rosi Mittermeier, who had not yet reached a World Cup podium in the downhill of the season in second place. They also took the 16th place in the giant slalom. With a win in the last World Cup downhill of the season in Aspen is Totschnig secured the first victory in the downhill World Cup and in sixth place in the overall World Cup. After these successes, she was elected Austrian Female Athlete of the Year in 1976.

At the beginning of the 1976/77 season Totschnig succeeded in Courmayeur surprising victory in the giant slalom. In the rest of the season they could connect seamlessly with the departure successes of the previous year. She won in December both slopes in Zell am See, triumphed in January in Crans -Montana in March at Heavenly Valley. This enabled it to defend their victory in the downhill World Cup successfully and improve the overall World Cup in fourth. In the giant slalom World Cup she finished with her win and three other top - 10 finishes with equal points with the US-American Abigail Fisher fifth place. In the season 1977/78 Totschnig did not reach the results of previous years. Although she was able to regularly classify among the fastest ten podiums were made however. Her best result was a fourth place in the second departure from Pfronten on January 7. In the downhill World Cup they thus fell back to eighth place. In the 1978 World Cup in Garmisch -Partenkirchen, she was seventh in the downhill and 19th in the giant slalom. Greater success go to her only at national level, as they Austrian Champion in the downhill and the combination was in February 1978.

In the 1978/79 season Totschnig came only once, in sixth place in the departure of Schruns on 26 January, in the top ten. In the summer of 1979, she announced her resignation. End of the year Totschnig was a first time mother, and three years later another child. In 1978 she began in Filzmoos with the construction of the Aparthotel Olympia, which she heads today.