Sonja Steinacher

Sonja Steinacher ( born August 16, 1975 in Brixen ) is a former Italian Naturbahnrodlerin. In the second half of the 1990s and early 2000s, she was one of the most successful athletes in tobogganing. She was three times world champion, European champion once, twice European Junior Champion and won with a total of 14 victories in World Cup race four times the overall World Cup.

Career

Sonja Steinacher took in 1992, for the first time in international championships. While she initially remained without a medal at the World and European Championships in the general class, she reached at the European Junior Championships in all its start podium: 1992 bar and 1995 Saint-Marcel/Fénis she won bronze medals in 1993 and Rautavaara and in 1994 in Langenfeld, she was twice European Junior Champion. In these years Steinacher scored the first podium in the newly introduced World Cup. In the first World Cup race in history on December 13, 1992, she was behind the Russian Lyubov Panjutina second. With another podium finish in Gummersbach they finished the season 1992/1993 in sixth position in the overall World Cup. After they had stayed in the winter 1993/1994 with no podium, she went in the seasons 1994/1995 and 1995/1996 again several times into the top three and each finished in fourth place in the overall World Cup.

The real breakthrough came in Steinach in the season 1996/ 1997. With her first World Cup victory on 19 January 1997 Szczyrk and three second places and one third place she chose for the first time the World Cup for all - for the Russian Panjutina who could not make up their deficit to just Steinacher despite three victories in the second half of the season. With a third place at the European Championship 1997 in Moos in Passeier she also won her first medal at major events, which she managed from now on every year. So she was again at the 1998 World Cup in Rautavaara third and won the European Championship in 1999 Szczyrk the gold medal.

In the overall World Cup of the season 1997/1998 Steinacher achieved third place with two podiums. In the 1998/1999 season she went into each of the six World Cup races into the top three, where they won one, three times second and twice third party was, but was beaten for scarce five points in the overall World Cup of Elvira woodcutter. Similarly, almost fell out of the decisions in the World Cup for the next two years. In the season 1999/2000 Steinacher decided thanks of four wins and two third places with a lead of 15 points on wood servant for the second time the World Cup itself, but in the 2000/2001 season she remained despite two victories and one each second, and third place ten points behind the Russian Ekaterina Lawrentjewa. At the World Championship 2000 in Olang Steinacher had also to Lawrentjewa in the cold, but the following year she won at the World Championships in 2001 in Stein an der Enns both the gold medal in Einsitzerwettbewerb as well as the gold medal in the inaugural team competition, together with Anton Blasbichler, Armin Mair and David Mair.

An impressive performance was Steinach in the 2001/2002 season. She won five of the six World Cup races and secured himself superior to their third World Cup victory. At the 2002 European Championships in Frantschach - Sankt Gertraud but they had to settle Lawrentjewa in a close decision to the third place behind Sandra Lanthaler and Ekaterina. Very nearly fell out of the decision in the World Cup of the season 2002/2003, which developed into a duel between Ekaterina Lawrentjewa and Sonja Steinacher. After four of the six races of the season Lawrentjewa was still ten points clear in the lead, but with her 14th and final World Cup victory on 30 January 2003 in Kindberg Steinacher ultimately decided by five points for the fourth time overall World Cup for what previously still no Naturbahnrodlerin had succeeded. In the 2003 World Cup in Železniki Steinacher won her third world title with seven hundredths of a second ahead of Lawrentjewa. After the 2002/2003 season Steinacher ended her successful career at the age of 27 years.

Achievements

World Championships

  • Bad Goisern 1992: 8 seater
  • Gsies 1994: 4 seater
  • Rautavaara 1998: 3 seater
  • Olang 2000: 2 seater
  • Stein an der Enns 2001: first single-seater, 1st team
  • Železniki 2003: 1 seater

European Championships

  • Stein an der Enns 1993: 7 seater
  • Kandalakscha 1995: 6 seater
  • Moos in Passeier 1997: 3 seater
  • Szczyrk 1999: first single-seater
  • Frantschach 2002: 3 seater

European Junior Championships

  • Rod 1992 3 seater
  • Rautavaara 1993: first single-seater
  • Length field 1994: first single-seater
  • Fénis 1995: 3 seater

World Cup

  • 4x overall World Cup victory in the single-seater in the seasons 1996/1997, 1999/2000, 2001/2002 and 2002/2003
  • 2x 2nd place in the overall World Cup single-seater in the seasons 1998/1999 and 2000/2001
  • 1x 3rd place in the single-seat World Cup in the 1997/1998 season
  • 38 podiums including 14 victories:

* At the same time Sandra Mariner

Italy FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships 1998 FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships 2000 FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships 2001 FIL European Luge Natural Track Championships 1997 FIL European Luge Natural Track Championships 1999 FIL European Luge Natural Track Championships 2002 FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships Saint-Marcel, Aosta Valley David Mair (natural track luger and skeleton racer) Frantschach-Sankt Gertraud FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships 1992 FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships 1994 FIL European Luge Natural Track Championships 1993 FIL European Luge Natural Track Championships 1995 Unterammergau Umhausen Irene Zechner Renate Gietl Melanie Batkowski Robert Batkowski Reinhard Beer Gernot Schwab Christian Schatz Patrick Pigneter Florian Clara Christa Gietl Elvira Holzknecht
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