Christa Gietl took part in international junior championships from 1994 and initially achieved placements in the top 10, as well as in her first world championship participation in 1996 in Oberperfuss , where she was sixth. Her breakthrough to the top of the world came in the winter of 1996/1997 when she celebrated her first World Cup victory in Toblach on January 24th . A week later she achieved fifth place at the 1997 European Championships in Moos in Passeier and in early March she won the first Junior World Championships in Aosta . In the overall World Cup, she finished sixth in the 1996/1997 season . Another victory, on January 18, 1998 in Kronplatz , but, as in the previous year, no further podium places, was achieved by Gietl in the 1997/1998 World Cup season . In the overall World Cup, however, she was able to improve by two places to fourth. At the 1998 World Cup in Rautavaara , Finland , Gietl won the silver medal and only had to admit defeat to the Russian Lyubow Panjutina . In the 1998/1999 season , Gietl celebrated another World Cup victory on February 5, 1999 in Aurach near Kitzbühel . Before that she had already finished third three times, with which she also achieved third place in the overall World Cup - behind Elvira Holzknecht and Sonja Steinacher . These two were also the fastest at the 1999 European Championships in Szczyrk and Christa Gietl won the bronze medal behind them.
The 1999/2000 season was over for Gietl after a failure in the third World Cup race in Gummer . During the next winter, she did not take part in any races. She did not return to the World Cup until the 2001/2002 season and came in third in the opening race in Olang . She also came third in the penultimate race in Hüttau and came fourth three times. In the overall World Cup, she achieved fifth place. At the European Championships in 2002 in Frantschach-Sankt Gertraud , however, she only came in tenth place, while at the World Championships in 2003 in Železniki she finished fifth. The 2002/2003 World Cup season was successful . Christa Gietl won two races in Hüttau and Olang and came second in Moscow . But twice she only came in eighth, which ultimately meant third place in the overall World Cup. The next season started well with a second place in Olang and third place in Grande Prairie . After that, however, she mostly only achieved placements around tenth place, which is why she fell back to sixth place in the overall World Cup. She fared better at the 2004 European Championships in Hüttau, where she won the silver medal. Gietl only had to admit defeat to the Russian Ekaterina Lavrentieva , who also won four World Cup races this winter.
In the 2004/2005 season Gietl was affected by a hand injury and was only able to qualify for a World Cup start twice within the Italian team. Although she finished second in the fifth race of the season in Latzfons , she could not qualify for the world championship taking place a week later . In winter 2005/2006 Gietl took part in all world cup races again. With a second place in the opening race in Longiarü , three third places as well as a fifth and sixth place, she reached fourth place in the overall World Cup. The then 28-year-old celebrated her greatest success at the 2006 European Championships in Umhausen . After two of the three races she was still in fourth place, but with the fastest time in the third and last run she won the gold medal with only three hundredths of a second ahead of her nine years younger teammate Imelda Gruber and became European champion. After this successful season, Christa Gietl ended her career.
Italy
