Werner Bleiner

Werner Bleiner ( born May 26, 1946 in Tschagguns ) is a former Austrian alpine skier. He belonged to the late 1960s and throughout the world at the beginning of the 1970s in the slalom and giant slalom especially in the most successful athletes. Bleiner won two World Cup races in 1970 and giant slalom World Championship runner.

Biography

Bleiner began to exert skiing competitively at the age of 12 years. The young Austrian, he soon became one of the strongest runners and won from 1964 to 1966 eight junior champion title, which he won in 1965 even in all four disciplines ( downhill, giant slalom, slalom and combined ). At international level, he recorded his first success in these years. After he already was second in the 1964 B- class slalom on Mount Etna, he also achieved in 1965 in the class occupied Lauberhorn downhill in Wengen second place. He scored good results in winter 1965 in the Scandinavian races: In the descent of Narvik and the giant slalom in Gällivare, he came third in the giant slalom and from Åre, he celebrated his first victory. In the next few years then was also the giant slalom to his strongest discipline. In the winter of 1965/66 he scored another victory in the giant slalom in Kranjska Gora and two second places in the giant slalom in Cortina d' Ampezzo and Oberwiesenthal. He qualified for the 1966 World Cup in Chile Portillo, reaching there the 7th in the giant slalom.

During the first World Cup season 1967 achieved Bleiner total of six top-10 results in all three then discharged disciplines ( downhill, giant slalom and slalom), including two third-place finishes at the end of season in slalom and giant slalom at Jackson Hole, which he in the World Cup to ninth place reached. In addition, he managed a victory in the World Cup not counting the giant slalom at Whistler Mountain. In the World Cup season 1968 Bleiner first went twice in the top ten. He had no success in the giant slalom of the Olympic Winter Games 1968. Due to a Torfehlers due to a fall he was disqualified. Just over two weeks later, on 24 February 1968 in the giant slalom won Bleiner of Oslo his first World Cup race. However, the overall World Cup he fell back on the 21th Place.

Throughout the 1968/69 season Bleiner came not in the form and drove in no single World Cup race in the points, so into the top ten. His best results were two eleventh places. Much more successful was the season 1969/70: Bleiner won at the 1970 World Cup in Val Gardena behind his compatriot Karl Schranz the silver medal in the giant slalom. This was followed in World Cup giant slalom, two further second places and at the end of the season in the giant slalom at Voss his second World Cup victory. Overall, it was clear to see this winter in ten out of eleven World Cup giant slalom race ( the race of the World Cup were also part of the World Cup ) sort in the top eight, thus achieving equal points with Schranz fourth place in the giant slalom World Cup. With two top -6 results in slalom he reached the seventh place in the overall World Cup, which this season was to be his most successful.

Then Bleiner but could not connect to these results. In the 1970/71 season he reached five top-10 results, but only a podium finish in the giant slalom at Mont Sainte -Anne, which is why he was no longer to be found in the discipline World Cup in eighth place fell back and in the overall ranking in the top 20. Even worse was the 1971/72 season in which he only went twice into the top ten. At the Olympic Winter Games in 1972, he finished 18th in the giant slalom.

Because Bleiner in the World Cup could not believe more feet, he moved in 1973 to the North American professional racing series. There he still achieved some success and won in the winter 1974/75 the giant slalom standings. For several years he was able to classify in the top ten overall, to 1979, he retired from ski racing.