Alpine World Ski Championships 1941

(10th) Alpine World Ski Championships 1941
subsequently canceled in 1946
Place:	Cortina d'Ampezzo , Italy
Start:	February 2, 1941
The End:	February 4, 1941
Nations:	10
Competitions:	6th
winner
	Men's	Ladies
Departure	Josef Jennewein	Christl Cranz
slalom	Pfeifer & Chierroni	Celina Seghi
Alpine combination	Josef Jennewein	Christl Cranz
← Zakopane 1939 Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1942 → St. Moritz 1948 →

The Alpine World Ski Championships of 1941 were held together with the Nordic World Ski Championships from February 1st to 9th in the Italian winter sports resort of Cortina d'Ampezzo . Cortina hosted a world championship as early as 1932 .

After the end of the Second World War , the International Ski Federation (FIS) subsequently declared this world championship invalid at the 16th Congress from August 27 to 31, 1946 in Pau , as many nations were unable to take part due to political circumstances. All medals lost their official status after the decision of the FIS and are no longer counted. Besides Italy and the German Reich, the only participating countries were Bulgaria, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Yugoslavia, Romania, Switzerland and Hungary.

procedure

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony took place on February 1st at 11 a.m. After a night of snowfall, the landscape was covered by a 20 cm layer of fresh snow. The ceremony was attended by 5,000 visitors. The uniforms of officers from twelve nations shone in the official gallery. The first athletes to march in were two Bulgarians, the hosts were the last. The flag bearer of the Swiss team was its competition elder, August Sonderegger . The President of the Italian Olympic Committee, Raffaele Manganiello , delivered the welcome address. FIS Vice President, Count Hamilton (Sweden), expressed the thanks of the International Ski Federation.

FIS Congress

An FIS congress was held on February 3rd; for the time being, FIS Vice President Hamilton was of the opinion that "it wasn't about time". At this conference, which took place with the arrival of the 12 participating countries, it was decided to award the next year's World Championships to Germany (Garmisch-Partenkirchen) and the next FIS congress one year after the end of the war in Budapest. In addition, some mutations were noted that affect the former ski organizations of Austria and Czechoslovakia, as well as the reorganization of the sport in Finland, Norway and Slovakia.

Closing ceremony

The closing ceremony took place with the sun setting after the ski jumping on February 9th, with the Duca di Bergamo (member of the Italian royal family) announcing the rankings, including the past competitions.

Men

Departure

space	athlete	country	time
1	Josef Jennewein	German Empire	04: 03.97 min
2	Alberto Marcellin	Italy	04: 06.66 min
3	Rudolf Cranz	German Empire	04: 08.66 min
4th	Vittorio Chierroni	Italy	04: 09.46 min
5	Hellmut Lantschner	German Empire	04: 09.69 min
6th	Rudolf Rominger	Switzerland	04: 12.55 min
7th	Randmod Soerensen	Norway	04: 14.00 min
8th	Albert Pfeifer	German Empire	04: 15.13 min
9	Albert Scheuring	Switzerland	04: 18.06 min
10	Hans Hansson	Sweden	04: 19.09 min

Date: Sunday February 2, 1941

Participants: 27 started; 25 rated
The race started at 11.30 am. It was over 4.6 km with a 985 m difference in altitude and start at 2,200 m at the foot of the middle Tofanastock. After driving 1,700 m over open terrain, the 500 m long «cannon barrel» («Canelone») was sighted, the upper part of which was marked with 5 blue gates. Another important passage was the “Druscie wall” (“plêce de résistance”), an extremely steep, icy fall that had to be exploited in order to complete the subsequent flat section with as little loss of time as possible. Then it went straight to the finish line over slightly undulating terrain, whereby the two road crossings did not cause any trouble for the class riders. This was only noticeable in the less experienced people who drove into falls. The Swedes had made a mistake in the wax election, and the competition turned out to be a disappointment for the northerners, who were among the closest favorites.
The time of No. 1, Marcellin, was only beaten by No. 7, Jennewein. His drive was such that he could be recognized as the sure winner all along the route without a stopwatch. Only the Alpini Marcellin came close to his daring on the tricky stretch of the route, most of the others decided to play it safe with a little slide on the “Canelone”. Rudolf Rominger's performance in Switzerland had met expectations, but the slalom world champion had calculated a better chance. He had swung or slid longer in the “cannon barrel” and on the wall - something similar was seen by the second Swiss participant.

slalom

space	athlete	country	time
1	Albert Pfeifer	German Empire	02: 01.50 min
1	Vittorio Chierroni	Italy	02: 01.50 min
3	Alberto Marcellin	Italy	02: 01.90 min
4th	Rudolf Cranz	German Empire	02: 02.30 min
5	Rudolf Rominger	Switzerland	02: 03.40 min
6th	Josef Jennewein	German Empire	02: 03.50 min
7th	Roberto Lacedelli	Italy	02:05.10 min
8th	Albert Scheuring	Switzerland	02: 07.60 min
9	Randmod Soerensen	Norway	02: 08.00 min
10	Sixten Isberg	Sweden	02: 13.40 min

Date: Tuesday February 4, 1941

Participants: 23 started
The slalom races took place in heavy snowstorms, which should actually be a good sign for defending champion Rominger, as the weather in Zakopane had been the same. The race was set out with 39 goals, with 5 to 6 being able to be driven in the starting area, and overall the course preferred the daredevils more than the technicians. Willi Walch and Peter Lefort were the course setters, whereby Walch, as the trainer of the Germans, had already taught his runners these combinations in the training sessions. Hellmut Lantschner opened the slalom and he set a fastest time of 59.3 ahead of Chierroni, Pfeifer and Jennewein, where you could tell that he didn't want to risk the combined title. Lantschner, again first in line (as stipulated by the regulations for the 2nd run at the time), came too quickly onto the steep slope, hit a gate, fell and received an additional 12 penalty seconds. Chierroni was reported by the Italian side that he had influenza and had a fever of over 38 degrees . Marcellin achieved the best time of the second run in 61.1. Rominger could not improve his time from the first run contrary to expectations.

Of the runners who started in the downhill, the Finn Erkki Penttilä was absent due to a foot injury and the Slovak Michal Daňo . The German youth champion Engelbert Haider drove the best time of the day with 57.0 seconds as a forerunner in the first round.

Alpine combination

space	athlete	country	time
1	Josef Jennewein	German Empire	404.4
2	Alberto Marcellin	Italy	405.1
3	Vittorio Chierroni	Italy	407.4
4th	Rudolf Cranz	German Empire	407.6
5	Rudolf Rominger	Switzerland	412.8
6th	Albert Pfeifer	German Empire	413.7
7th	Randmod Soerensen	Norway	421.0
8th	Albert Scheuring	Switzerland	423.9
9	Roberto Lacedelli	Italy	424.6
10	Hellmut Lantschner	German Empire	425.8

Date: Sunday 2nd and Tuesday 4th February 1941

Participants: 27 started; 21 rated
Josef Jennewein the lead from the downhill was enough to decide the combination for himself.

Women

Departure

space	athlete	country	time
1	Christl Cranz	German Empire	04: 10.30 min
2	Käthe Grasegger	German Empire	04: 17.58 min
3	Anneliese Proxauf	German Empire	04: 25.33 min
4th	Vreni Fuchs	Switzerland	04: 29.58 min
5	Celina Seghi	Italy	04: 34.09 min
6th	Vreni Keller	Switzerland	04: 36.38 min
7th	Rosemarie Proxauf	German Empire	04: 37.63 min
8th	Eva May Nilsson	Sweden	04: 40.25 min
9	Louise Boulaz	Switzerland	04: 43.77 min
10	Ruth Graffer	Italy	05: 45.36 min

Date: Sunday February 2, 1941

Participants: 10 started; 10 rated
The women's downhill run ran over the same route as the men's, but was shortened by 200 m at the start height, which meant a 15 to 20 second run. The performance of the superior winner was all the more remarkable as she had to squat half of the race due to a leg cramp.
Among the Swiss runners, Vreni Fuchs (Basel-Davos) got good placings, who apparently crossed the finish line with ease in an elegant drive. Vreni Keller (Zurich) was stopped in 4: 36.38 and thus a good 2 seconds slower than Celina Seghi (4: 34.09). Loulou Boulaz (Geneva), who was the team captain, fell after an edge error between the second and third goal. May Nilsson suffered the same evil with the wrong choice of wax as her male colleagues.

slalom

space	athlete	country	time
1	Celina Seghi	Italy	02: 05.61 min
2	Christl Cranz	German Empire	02: 09.98 min
3	Anneliese Proxauf	German Empire	02: 17.39 min
4th	Rosemarie Proxauf	German Empire	02: 20.06 min
5	Käthe Grasegger	German Empire	02: 25.90 min
6th	Vreni Fuchs	Switzerland	02:30.35 min
7th	Vreni Keller	Switzerland	02: 38.83 min
8th	Louise Boulaz	Switzerland	03: 02.73 min
DQU	Eva May Nilsson	Sweden	-
DNF	Ruth Graffer	Italy	-

Date: Tuesday February 4, 1941

Participants: 10 started; 8 rated
Little Celina Seghi was given no chance against the German overwhelming power, but she managed to get almost 5 seconds ahead of the multiple world champion from Oberallgäu, with start no. 1 had already set a best time in the first run (2.8 seconds better than Cranz). May Nilsson missed two goals and was disqualified. Seghi also set the best time in the second run. Cranz didn't want to risk too much. Vreni Fuchs drove a solid race, but fell just short of the finish line, and believing that she had already triggered the timekeeping, she lay where she was, and did not understand the request given in Italian to get up and continue driving, which was valuable to her Took time.

Alpine combination

space	athlete	country	time
1	Christl Cranz	German Empire	406.0
2	Celina Seghi	Italy	424.7
3	Anneliese Proxauf	German Empire	430.1
4th	Käthe Grasegger	German Empire	432.6
5	Rosemarie Proxauf	German Empire	445.7
6th	Vreni Fuchs	Switzerland	457.2
7th	Vreni Keller	Switzerland	474.0
8th	Loulou Boulaz	Switzerland	502.8
DNF	Ruth Graffer	Italy	-
DNF	Eva May Nilsson	Sweden	-

Date: Sunday 2nd and Tuesday 4th February 1941

Participants: 10 started; 8 rated
Christl Cranz, the lead from the downhill was enough to decide the combination for himself.

Medal table

space	country	gold	silver	bronze	total
1	German Empire	5	2	4th	11
2	Italy	2	3	2	7th

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Congress Information 16th Pau (FRA) 1946 ( Memento of the original from March 26, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed March 17, 2016 
2. ^ "The first competition of the FIS races in Cortina d'Ampezzo" with the subtitle "The opening ceremony on Saturday"; «Sport Zürich» No. 14 of February 5, 1941, page 1
3. ↑ «Still FIS Congress!»; “Sport Zürich” No. 14 of February 3, 1941, page 3; Column 2
4. ^ "FIS conference in Cortina"; “Sport Zürich” No. 15 of February 5, 1941, page 3; Column 1
5. ^ «Closing ceremony and award ceremony»; “Sport Zürich” No. 17 of February 10, 1941, page 5; Column 2
6. ^ "The first competition of the FIS races in Cortina d'Ampezzo" with the subtitle "The first competition: The downhill race" or "J. Jennewein World Champion! »; «Sport Zürich» No. 14 of February 3, 1941, pages 1 to 3
7. ↑ "Two slalom world champions!" «Sport Zürich» No. 15 of February 5, 1941, page 2
8. ↑ Albert Pfeifer wins the gate run. In: Tages-Post of February 5, 1941, p. 5
9. ^ "The first competition of the FIS races in Cortina d'Ampezzo" with the subtitle "The first competition: The downhill run" or "Christl Cranz in a class of his own"; «Sport Zürich» No. 14 of February 3, 1941, pages 1 to 3

Web links

• As athletes in the trenches wienerzeitung.at