Reinhard Gruber

Reinhard Gruber ( born June 23, 1977 in Brixen ) is a former Italian natural track luge. He was once each world and European champion in single seaters and won with six wins in World Cup races twice the overall World Cup. Gruber lives in the Klausner Group Verdings.

Career

Gruber took off in 1993 at the European junior championships. While he did not reached the finish line in 1993, it reached 1994 in Langenfeld fifth place and won in 1995 and 1996 Fénis Szczyrk the silver medal in the single-seater. In 1997 he won the first Junior World Championship gold medal in the single-seater. In the same year he also managed the breakthrough in the general class when he was European champion in single seaters in moss in pass eggs. A year later he became world champion in single seaters in Rautavaara.

In the World Cup Gruber enter the 1996/1997 season with a second and a third place in Dobbiaco the first podiums. In the World Cup he scored so that equal points with the Austrian Gerhard Pilz sixth. In the 1997/1998 season, Gruber secured with three wins in Kronplatz, Oberperfuss and Železniki and a second place in Mölten first victory in the World Cup. He could repeat this success to two second and a third place in the 1998/1999 season with two wins in animal and Herzogenaurach as well. Gruber won the overall standings ahead of his compatriot Anton Blasbichler same points, which also has two wins, two second and achieved third place, thanks to its better outcome String (fifth place in the first race of the season against a seventh place of Blasbichler ).

In the season 1999/2000 Gruber played only two World Cup races, which is why he dropped back to 21st place overall. On 14 January 2001 he celebrated in Lüsen his sixth and last World Cup victory after he had a week earlier, at the same time achieved with the Austrian Ferdinand Hirzegger, third place at the World Cup in Unterammergau. In the World Cup he achieved in the 2000/2001 season with a further two top-10 results in sixth place. In the 2001/2002 season he played his final two World Cup races, but never got there in the top ten.

For international championships Gruber won after his victories in 1997 and 1998, no other medals. At the European Championships in 1999 Szczyrk he did not start at the World Championship 2000 in Olang he was fourth and one year later at the World Championships in 2001 in Stein an der Enns ninth. In his last medal decision, the 2002 European Championships in Frantschach - Sankt Gertraud, he drove in twelfth place.

Sporting successes

World Championships

  • Oberperfuss 1996: 6 seater
  • Rautavaara 1998: first single-seater
  • Olang 2000: 4 seater
  • Stein an der Enns 2001: 9 seater

European Championships

  • Moos in Passeier 1997: first single-seater
  • Frantschach 2002: 12 seater

Junior World Championships

  • Aosta 1997: first single-seater

European Junior Championships

  • Length field 1994: 5 seater
  • Fénis 1995: 2 seater
  • Szczyrk 1996: 2 seater

World Cup

  • Two-time World Cup overall victory in the single-seater in the seasons 1997/1998 and 1998/1999
  • 13 podiums, including 6 victories:

Italian Championships

  • Italian champion in single-seaters in 2001
Italy FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships 1998 FIL European Luge Natural Track Championships 1997 FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships Frazione Tiers, South Tyrol FIL European Luge Natural Track Championships 1999 FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships 2000 FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships 2001 FIL European Luge Natural Track Championships 2002 Frantschach-Sankt Gertraud FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships 1996 Gerald Kallan Robert Batkowski Gernot Schwab Patrick Pigneter Gerald Kammerlander Damiano Lugon Manfred Danklmaier Franz Obrist Erhard Mahlknecht
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