Alexandra Meissnitzer
Alexandra Meissnitzer 
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| nation |
 Austria
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| birthday | 18th June 1973 (age 47) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| place of birth | Abtenau , Austria | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| size | 165 cm | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 55 kg | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| job | Moderator, ORF commentator | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| discipline |
Downhill , Super-G , giant slalom , slalom , combination |
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| society | UPS Abtenau | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| status | resigned | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| End of career | March 13, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Placements in the Alpine Ski World Cup | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Alexandra Meissnitzer (born June 18, 1973 in Abtenau , Salzburg ) is a former Austrian ski racer . She was once overall world cup winner and twice winner of a discipline world cup. She is a two-time world champion and won another four medals at the Olympic Games and World Championships . The former executive officer of the Federal Police now works in the private sector. Your ski club is the USV Abtenau.
biography
Junior period
After secondary school, Meissnitzer (called "Meissi") graduated from the Schladming ski trade school . She then began training as a police officer, which enabled her to spend a lot of time training. In 1989 she was two-time Austrian youth champion, in 1990 and 1991 there were even three youth championship titles. With good performances in the European Cup (overall, Super-G and giant slalom victory 1990/91 ) and at the Junior World Championships in 1991 in Geilo and Hemsedal (4th place in Super-G ), she qualified for the Ski World Cup . Her first World Cup race was on December 7, 1991 a Super-G in Santa Caterina , which she finished in 28th place.
In the 1991/92 season she was second in the downhill and third in the Super-G at the Junior World Championships in Maribor , and she also won the Super-G classification of the European Cup. On December 12, 1992, she had a serious crash in the Vail Downhill . The injuries healed quickly, but Meissnitzer had to struggle with mental problems as a result, could hardly achieve a good result and was already considered an "eternal talent" for many.
ups and downs
After good performance in the European Cup, she was allowed to start again for the World Cup at the beginning of the 1994/95 season. She finally made the leap to the top a year later. On December 7, 1995, she won the Super-G of Val-d'Isère . Before the World Ski Championships in 1996 , she was one of the favorites, but only achieved lower places due to an ankle injury.
In the 1996/97 season she again achieved rather mediocre results. But the new head coach Karl Frehsner led Meissnitzer and the Austrian women's national team, which fell far short of the expectations of the public and the ÖSV in that season , back to success.
In the 1997/98 season Meissnitzer achieved six podium places and in the last race of the winter her first victory in a World Cup giant slalom . At the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano , she won silver in the giant slalom and bronze in the Super-G, in the downhill she was eighth. These achievements earned her the election of Austria's Sportswoman of the Year 1998 .
Dream season
After changing the ski brand, she felt even more motivated at the beginning of the 1998/99 season . The season would prove to be the most successful of her entire career. At the 1999 World Ski Championships , which took place in Vail and Beaver Creek , she won two gold medals, in super-G and in giant slalom. In the downhill she was fourth (behind her three teammates) and only missed the bronze medal by ten hundredths of a second.
During the winter she won eight world cup races. Not only did she win the overall World Cup standings by a large margin, she was also in the Super-G over the entire season (here she won the first ever discipline World Cup for the ÖSV women) and the most successful athlete in the giant slalom. In addition, he came second in the Downhill World Cup. She was once again voted “Sportswoman of the Year”.
Her series of successes led her back to her technical ski work with trainer Karl Frehsner, to her close friendship with the American ski racer Picabo Street and to Qigong meditation exercises. Before she was considered a “bundle of nerves”, had often put herself under unnecessary pressure and was therefore not always able to exploit her existing potential. She thought she was "insanely complicated, but actually shy". Within a year, however, Alexandra Meissnitzer matured to become the undisputed team leader ("I currently feel so strong that the others can build on me").
Setback and comeback
In Lake Louise , Canada , during training for the first descent of the 1999/2000 season, on November 25, 1999, she suffered a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament , tears of the outer meniscus and collateral ligament and other injuries in her left knee in a serious fall . The season was over. During her forced break, she completed her training as a police officer. The meniscus tore again during summer training in Chile . Although the subsequent therapy went relatively well, seventh place in the Super-G of Val-d'Isère in December 2000 appeared to be a minor sensation. At the 2001 World Ski Championships in St. Anton am Arlberg , she came eighth in the giant slalom.
Before the 2001/02 season, Meissnitzer was also unable to train fully for a long time due to incorrectly chosen therapy methods. Several placements among the top ten and the first podium in almost three years made them quite confident about the 2002 Winter Olympics . There she just missed the medals as fourth in the Super-G and in the giant slalom.
In the 2002/03 season she established herself at the top of the world with five podium places, but it was not enough to win. At the 2003 World Ski Championships in St. Moritz , she won the silver medal in the downhill, beaten by the surprising Canadian Mélanie Turgeon by just eleven hundredths of a second. In the Super-G she was fifth, while she was eliminated in the first run of the giant slalom.
In January 2004, Meissnitzer won another World Cup race after almost five years, the Super-G of Megève . The rest of the 2003/04 season was rather unspectacular with a single further podium. This also applies to the 2004/05 season . After the victory in the Super-G of Altenmarkt-Zauchensee on December 11th (according to APA it is the 300th World Cup ski success for the Salzburg State Ski Association), numerous less good results followed, such as B. the 22nd place in the downhill at the Ski World Cup 2005 in Santa Caterina .
At the age of 32, she experienced something like a "second spring" in the 2005/06 season . With one win and four more podium places, she prevailed against significantly younger competitors and qualified for the 2006 Winter Olympics . There she won her sixth medal, bronze in her favorite super-G discipline.
Meissnitzer could not quite maintain this level in the next two seasons. Although she finished in the top ten several times, she never achieved a podium. At the 2007 World Cup , she was eighth in the Super-G. On December 8, 2007, she fell on the downhill run from Aspen , whereupon she had to take a five-week break. On March 13, 2008, she ended her career with the Super-G in Bormio , in which she managed to finish on the podium again as third.
Since December 20, 2008, she has been working as a co-commentator and camera runner in women's alpine races for ORF .
At the beginning of 2012 she was able to successfully complete a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree. She works as a lecturer and moderator.
successes
Olympic games
- Nagano 1998 : 2nd giant slalom, 3rd Super-G, 8th downhill
- Salt Lake City 2002 : 4th Super-G, 4th Giant Slalom
- Turin 2006 : 3rd Super-G, 8th Downhill
World championships
- Sierra Nevada 1996 : 16th Downhill, 23rd Super-G
- Sestriere 1997 : 13th Super-G, 17th Downhill
- Vail / Beaver Creek 1999 : 1st giant slalom, 1st Super-G, 4th downhill
- St. Anton 2001 : 8th Super-G, 11th Downhill
- St. Moritz 2003 : 2nd downhill, 5th super-G
- Santa Caterina 2005 : 22nd departure
- Åre 2007 : 8th Super-G
Junior World Championships
- Zinal 1990 : 13th descent, 14th giant slalom
- Geilo / Hemsedal 1991 : 4th Super-G, 7th giant slalom, 16th descent
- Maribor 1992 : 2nd downhill, 3rd Super-G, 7th giant slalom
World Cup ratings
| season | total | Departure | Super G | Giant slalom | slalom | combination | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| space | Points | space | Points | space | Points | space | Points | space | Points | space | Points | |
| 1991/92 | 98 | 20th | - | - | 45. | 12 | 48. | 8th | - | - | - | - |
| 1992/93 | 89. | 34 | 35. | 30th | 54. | 4th | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1993/94 | 76. | 63 | 42. | 26th | 38. | 24 | 46. | 13 | - | - | - | - |
| 1994/95 | 23. | 294 | 21st | 90 | 10. | 163 | 29 | 41 | - | - | - | - |
| 1995/96 | 5. | 894 | 6th | 316 | 2. | 374 | 9. | 204 | - | - | - | - |
| 1996/97 | 19th | 358 | 12. | 195 | 17th | 108 | 24. | 55 | - | - | - | - |
| 1997/98 | 5. | 884 | 8th. | 168 | 11. | 140 | 3. | 445 | - | - | 24. | 11 |
| 1998/99 | 1. | 1672 | 2. | 468 | 1. | 459 | 1. | 652 | 44. | 12 | 5. | 81 |
| 1999/00 | 105. | 15th | - | - | - | - | 51. | 15th | - | - | - | - |
| 2000/01 | 16. | 378 | 21st | 92 | 12. | 147 | 13. | 139 | - | - | - | - |
| 2001/02 | 15th | 475 | 43. | 13 | 2. | 248 | 12. | 194 | - | - | 20th | 20th |
| 2002/03 | 8th. | 776 | 10. | 139 | 4th | 350 | 7th | 287 | - | - | - | - |
| 2003/04 | 8th. | 734 | 10. | 225 | 7th | 267 | 7th | 242 | - | - | - | - |
| 2004/05 | 16. | 428 | 21st | 85 | 6th | 276 | 27. | 67 | - | - | - | - |
| 2005/06 | 9. | 753 | 6th | 267 | 2. | 437 | 26th | 49 | - | - | - | - |
| 2006/07 | 17th | 413 | 15th | 181 | 5. | 207 | 34. | 25th | - | - | - | - |
| 2007/08 | 26th | 321 | 28. | 81 | 9. | 226 | 36. | 14th | - | - | - | - |
World Cup victories
Alexandra Meissnitzer won a total of 14 world cup races (7 × Super-G, 5 × giant slalom and 2 × downhill).
| date | place | country | discipline |
|---|---|---|---|
| December 7, 1995 | Val d'Isère | France | Super G |
| December 20, 1995 | Veysonnaz | Switzerland | Super G |
| March 15, 1998 | Crans-Montana | Switzerland | Giant slalom |
| November 19, 1998 | Park City | United States | Giant slalom |
| November 29, 1998 | Lake Louise | Canada | Super G |
| December 10, 1998 | Val d'Isère | France | Super G |
| December 11, 1998 | Val d'Isère | France | Giant slalom |
| December 19, 1998 | Veysonnaz | Switzerland | Departure |
| January 24, 1999 | Cortina d'Ampezzo | Italy | Giant slalom |
| February 22, 1999 | Are | Sweden | Giant slalom |
| March 10, 1999 | Sierra Nevada | Spain | Departure |
| January 4, 2004 | Megève | France | Super G |
| December 11, 2004 | Altenmarkt-Zauchensee | Austria | Super G |
| 4th December 2005 | Lake Louise | Canada | Super G |
In addition, she achieved a podium place 30 times (6 times in the downhill, 11 times in the super-G, 11 times in the giant slalom, twice in the parallel slalom) and 97 further placements in the top ten (31 times in the downhill, 41 times in Super-G, 23 times in giant slalom, twice in combination).
European Cup
- Season 1990/91 : 1. Appreciation, the first Super-G, Giant Slalom 1st, 6th departure
- Season 1991/92 : 1. Super-G
- Season 1993/94 : 3rd overall, the second Super-G, downhill seventh
Austrian championships
- Six times Austrian national champion : Downhill ( 1994 ), Super-G (1994, 1998 , 2002 ), Giant Slalom ( 1999 , 2004 )
Awards
- Austria's Sportswoman of the Year (1998 and 1999)
- Decoration of Honor in Gold for Services to the Republic of Austria (1998)
Others
In 2011 she took second place in the 6th season of the ORF dance show Dancing Stars together with professional dancer Florian Gschaider.
Her cousin Christiane Meissnitzer, singer, founded the Meissnitzer Band with others in 1996 , which was initially intended to support Alexandra's skiing career, but later also made music in the alpine rock genre independently of it .
Alexandra Meissnitzer has been an ambassador for SalzburgerLand Tourismus GmbH since 2016 . Under the title “Meisis Reise” she travels the Salzburger Land and reports on projects in the fields of culinary art, sport and health.
literature
- Austrian Ski (ed.): Austrian ski stars of A-Z . Innsbruck 2008, ISBN 978-3-9502285-7-1 , pp. 272-274.
- Joachim Glaser: Salzburg athlete . Verlag Anton Pustet, Salzburg-Munich 2001, ISBN 3-7025-0426-5 , pp. 26-27.
Web links
- Website by Alexandra Meissnitzer
- Alexandra Meissnitzer in the database of the International Ski Association (English)
- Alexandra Meissnitzer in the database of Ski-DB (English)
- Alexandra Meissnitzer in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sports magazine , issue 1/1999
- ↑ News , issue 46/1998
- ^ Meissnitzer debut as a commentator. In: sport.orf.at , December 19, 2008
- ↑ Parliamentary correspondence of the Austrian Parliament on the 15th sports report of October 1, 1999. Accessed on November 11, 2009
- ↑ "Meisi" becomes ambassador for SalzburgerLand, accessed on April 6, 2017
- ↑ Meisis journey through the province of Salzburg. In: salzburgerland.com , accessed on April 6, 2017
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Meissnitzer, Alexandra |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian ski racer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 18, 1973 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Abtenau , Austria |