Herbert Plank

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Herbert Plank Alpine skiing
nation ItalyItaly Italy
birthday 3rd September 1954 (age 65)
place of birth Sterzing , Italy
Career
discipline Downhill , giant slalom ,
combination
status resigned
End of career 1981
Medal table
Olympic games 0 × gold 0 × silver 1 × bronze
World championships 0 × gold 0 × silver 1 × bronze
Junior European Championship 1 × gold 0 × silver 0 × bronze
Olympic rings winter Olympics
bronze Innsbruck 1976 Departure
FIS Alpine World Ski Championships
bronze Innsbruck 1976 Departure
FIS Alpine Junior European Ski Championships
gold Madonna di Campiglio 1972 Departure
Placements in the Alpine Ski World Cup
 Individual World Cup debut 1971
 Individual world cup victories 5
 Overall World Cup 5. ( 1977/78 )
 Downhill World Cup 2. ( 1975/76 )
 Giant Slalom World Cup 27. ( 1971/72 )
 Combination World Cup 7. ( 1980/81 )
 Podium placements 1. 2. 3.
 Departure 5 9 6th
 combination 0 1 0
 

Herbert Plank (born September 3, 1954 in Sterzing ) is a former Italian ski racer . After Zeno Colò and up to the era of Kristian Ghedina , the South Tyrolean was considered the most successful downhill runner in Italy. Among other things, he was the first Italian to win the descent on the Saslong in Val Gardena in December 1977 .

Career

The South Tyrolean Plank won the gold medal in the downhill at the first ever European Junior Championships in 1972 . After that he became one of the few drivers who was able to stand up to the dominant Austrian team around Franz Klammer and the " Crazy Canucks " in the World Cup descents. Between 1973 and 1980 he celebrated five victories. Overall, Plank was able to place in the top ten 46 times, almost without exception in downhill runs. He only started sporadically in the technical disciplines.
When he won his first win (December 10, 1973 in Val-d'Isère ), he was even considered an “insider tip” (spelling at the time), although he only finished eighth in the points in the previous season (after that, a difficult one had him Fall practically thrown out of the race by the end of the season); Plank thus became the youngest winner of a men's world cup downhill run (which he still is to date, March 22, 2017).

He achieved the greatest success of his career in 1976 at the Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck . In the downhill race on the Patscherkofel , he won the bronze medal behind his long-term rivals Franz Klammer and Bernhard Russi . Four years later at the Winter Games of Lake Placid , he came back to sixth place.

After the 1980/81 season , Plank announced his retirement from active skiing. His son Andy is also a ski racer and 2009 junior world champion in the downhill.

successes

winter Olympics

World cup
date place country discipline
December 10, 1973 Val d'Isère France Departure
January 9, 1976 Wengen Switzerland Departure
18th December 1977 Val Gardena Italy Departure
22nd December 1977 Cortina d'Ampezzo Italy Departure
March 4th 1980 Lake Louise Canada Departure

Junior European Championships

Italian championships

Plank won a total of seven Italian championship titles :

  • Departure (5): 1975, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981
  • Combination (2): 1975, 1979

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ «Insider tip struck» . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna December 11, 1973, p. 15 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
personal data
SURNAME Plank, Herbert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian ski racer
DATE OF BIRTH 3rd September 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Sterzing , Italy