Erika Mahringer

Erika Mahringer
nation	Austria
birthday	November 16, 1924
place of birth	Linz , Austria
date of death	October 30, 2018
Place of death	Mayrhofen , Austria
Career
discipline	Slalom , giant slalom , downhill , combination
society	TS Innsbruck
End of career	1954
Medal table
Olympic games 0 × 0 × 2 × World championships 0 × 2 × 2 ×
winter Olympics bronze St. Moritz 1948 slalom bronze St. Moritz 1948 combination  Alpine World Ski Championships bronze St. Moritz 1948 slalom bronze St. Moritz 1948 combination silver Aspen 1950 slalom silver Aspen 1950 Departure

Erika "Riki" Mahringer, married Spieß, (born November 16, 1924 in Linz ; † October 30, 2018 in Mayrhofen ) was an Austrian ski racer . In the second half of the 1940s and the first half of the 1950s, she won numerous international races, won two bronze medals at the Olympic Games and two silver medals at world championships .

Career

Even as a child, Mahringer was a versatile athlete. After moving to Tyrol, she devoted herself intensively to skiing and began studying sports at the University of Innsbruck , which she completed a few years later with a teaching degree. In 1947 she was accepted into the national team of the Austrian Ski Association and celebrated her first victories in the downhill run from Seefeld and in the giant slalom on the Marmolada .

The 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz were the first highlight of Mahringer's career. After she had only finished 19th in the downhill, she managed to win the bronze medal in combination with the best time in the combined slalom. The following day she won her second bronze medal in the slalom. This winter she celebrated victories in the downhill on the Marmolada, in slalom, downhill and combined from Auron and in the Gornergrat derby from Zermatt . The next year she won the downhill and the combination of the SDS races in Grindelwald .

At the beginning of the 1949/50 season, Mahringer won slalom, downhill and combined at the West Cup in Lech ; in St. Anton she won the slalom and the combination on the occasion of the Hannes Schneider Cup . At the 1950 World Championships in Aspen , Mahringer first took fourth place in the giant slalom, two days later she was only beaten by her teammate Dagmar Rom by just under 0.1 seconds and won silver. She won another silver medal in the downhill run behind Trude Jochum-Beiser . Overall, the Austrian ski women were able to look forward to three gold and three silver medals at this World Cup.

In the winter of 1951 Mahringer won, among other things, the slalom and the combination (in addition rank 2 in the downhill) at the West Cup in Lech on 6/7. January, the descents in Cortina d'Ampezzo and Kitzbühel as well as slalom, descent and combination at the Holmenkollen races in Oslo . This winter she was also able to win all competitions at the Austrian championships . Due to an injury, she did not reach her usual form at the beginning of the 1951/52 season and was also without a medal at the 1952 Winter Olympics . On the descent they just missed the podium and finished fourth, but in the giant slalom and slalom she came only to the places 17 and 22. After the games, but could victories in slalom and combined at the prestigious Arlberg-Kandahar in Chamonix celebrate .

In the 1952/53 season, Mahringer was able to celebrate numerous victories again, for example in the slalom from Seefeld, the giant slalom from Grindelwald, the slalom and giant slalom on Wendelstein and the Hahnenkamm downhill run from Kitzbühel. In the following year, she continued her winning streak and again won the giant slalom in Grindelwald (thanks to third place in the downhill she was second in combination) as well as downhill and combined in the Hahnenkamm race (and previously also took second place in the giant slalom on January 22nd).

At her last major event, the 1954 World Cup in Åre , Sweden , she was considered a great hope for a medal, but then only achieved seventh place in the giant slalom, eighth place in the slalom and twelfth place in the downhill. With these results, she just missed a medal in the combined ranking as fourth. Mahringer achieved her last victory in the giant slalom in Alpbach , and the 29-year-old ended her career after the winter.

Erika Mahringer then became a state-certified ski instructor and founded the Mayrhofen Ski School together with her husband Ernst Spieß in 1954 and the world's first ski kindergarten in 1955. Her two children, Uli Spieß and Nicola Spieß (married Werdenigg ), also became successful ski racers.

successes

winter Olympics

• St. Moritz 1948 : 3rd slalom, 3rd combination, 19th descent
• Oslo 1952 : 4th downhill, 17th giant slalom, 22nd slalom

World championships

• St. Moritz 1948 : 3rd slalom, 3rd combination, 19th descent
• Aspen 1950 : 2nd slalom, 2nd descent, 4th giant slalom
• Oslo 1952 : 4th downhill, 17th giant slalom, 22nd slalom
• Åre 1954 : 4th combination, 7th giant slalom, 8th slalom, 12th descent

Austrian championships

Erika Mahringer was six times Austrian champion :

• 3 × departure: 1948 , 1951 , 1952
• 1 × slalom: 1951
• 1 × giant slalom: 1951
• 1 × combination: 1951

Awards

• Austria's sportswoman of the year 1951
• Winner of the " Ski d'or " 1954

literature

• Austrian Ski Association (Ed.): Austrian Ski Stars from A – Z. Ablinger & Garber, Hall in Tirol 2008, ISBN 978-3-9502285-7-1 , pp. 248–249.

Web links

Commons : Erika Mahringer  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Erika Mahringer in the database of the International Ski Association (English)
• Erika Mahringer in the database of Ski-DB (English)
• Erika Mahringer in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ex-ski racer Riki Mahringer has passed away. In: Tirol.ORF.at. November 1, 2018, accessed November 1, 2018 . 
2. ↑ A record race is expected . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna January 6, 1951, p. 16 ( Arbeiter-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
3. ↑ You have to succeed with the first jump. Arlberg triumph in Lech . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna January 9, 1951, p. 8 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
4. ^ Mahringer's first victory . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna January 8, 1954, p. 8 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
5. ↑ Christian Pravda wins in Wengen. Mahringer in third place . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna January 10, 1954, p. 16 ( Arbeiter-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
6. ↑ Toni Spiss wins the giant slalom. The women won the German Mirl Buchner-Fischer… In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna January 23, 1954, p. 8 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
7. ↑ A triumph of the Austrians . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna January 24, 1954, p. 16 ( Arbeiter-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
8. ↑ The Lost Years . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna January 26, 1954, p. 8 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).