GDR ski championships 1963

The 15th GDR ski championships took place from February 20 to February 2, 1963 in Klingenthal , Saxony . In eight decisions in the Nordic ski disciplines cross-country skiing , ski jumping and Nordic combined , two of which were team competitions, athletes competed. The championship decision in men's 50 km cross-country skiing was held on March 3, 1963 in Altenberg in the Eastern Ore Mountains .

Cross-country skiing

Men

15 km

The local defending champion Enno Röder was able to prevail over the short men's race. At temperatures around 8 to 10 degrees below zero, the rise between kilometers 8 and 10 became an executioner. Helmut Weidlich was still in the lead, but Seidel and Röder were only a few seconds behind, as was the once again strong biathlete Dieter Ritter. In the last third, Röder was able to add the most and won the championship title with an 8 second lead. Dieter Ritter was able to celebrate his second silver medal because in the end he was tied with Helmut Weidlich.

Date: Saturday February 23, 1963

space	athlete	team	Time (h)
1	Enno Roeder	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	46:22
2	Helmut Weidlich	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	46:30
2	Dieter Ritter	SG Dynamo Zinnwald	46:30
4th	Heinz Seidel	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	46:33
5	Gerhard Lorenz	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	46:50
6th	Jürgen Beer	ASK forward Oberhof	47:09
7th	Klaus Kretzschmann	ASK forward Oberhof	47:14
8th	Rudolf Dannhauer	ASK forward Oberhof	47:29
9	Heinz Kluge	SG Dynamo Zinnwald	47:54
10	Kurt Albrecht	ASK forward Oberhof	47:57

30 km

The men's opening competition ended with a surprise. After ten kilometers, the Zinnwald biathlete Dieter Ritter was unexpectedly ahead. And even after 20 kilometers, cross-country skiing specialist Helmut Weidlich only pushed himself in front of Ritter by five seconds. In the end, Weidlich won the championship title with a 24-second lead, but Dieter Ritter was able to maintain his silver rank, even though Enno Röder made a strong performance in the last kilometers and only missed silver by seven seconds. With Heinz Kluge in 8th place, another biathlete ran into the top ranks.

Date: Thursday February 21, 1963

space	athlete	team	Time (h)
1	Helmut Weidlich	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	1:38:39
2	Dieter Ritter	SG Dynamo Zinnwald	1:39:17
3	Enno Roeder	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	1:39:24
4th	Heinz Seidel	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	1:41:38
5	Jürgen Beer	ASK forward Oberhof	1:42:20
6th	Rudolf Dannhauer	ASK forward Oberhof	1:42:23
7th	Klaus Kretzschmann	ASK forward Oberhof	1:42:36
8th	Heinz Kluge	SG Dynamo Zinnwald	1:42:45
9	Hans-Joachim Ficker	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	1:42:50
10	Siegfried Horler	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	1:42:57

50 km

The last championship decision was surprisingly won by Jürgen Beer from Oberhof. His club mate Kurt Albrecht won silver. At the same time, this was the only championship title in all competitions that went to Oberhof. At the championships in Vogtland the Oberhofer had only won a meager bronze medal.

Date: Sunday March 3, 1963

space	athlete	team	Time (h)
1	Jürgen Beer	ASK forward Oberhof	3:32:31
2	Kurt Albrecht	ASK forward Oberhof	3:33:13
3	Helmut Weidlich	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	3:34:30

4 × 10 km relay

If the title holder was quickly identified among the 19 squadrons, the outcome of the fight for the runner-up title was initially uncertain. Behind the experienced Klingenthal relay, who became champions with a minute and a half, it became clear after the first change that the good individual results of the Zinnwald biathletes were no coincidence. In the end they were able to kidnap the third silver medal in the Osterzgebirge with a lead of more than a minute over the Oberhof army athletes.

Date: Sunday February 24, 1963

space	team	athlete	Time (h)
1	SC Dynamo Klingenthal I	Hans-Joachim Ficker Heinz Seidel Helmut Weidlich Enno Röder	2:06:10
2	SG Dynamo Zinnwald	Helmut Klöpsch Heinz Kluge Hans-Dieter Riechel Dieter Ritter	2:07:48
3	ASK forward Oberhof	Kurt Albrecht Klaus Kretzschmann Jürgen Beer Rudolf Dannhauer	2:08:54

Women

5 km

Renate Dannhauer, who was absent the previous year, won the first women's running competition ahead of Christine Nestler. Third place was shared by Christa Herklotz and the former Klingenthaler Karen Jahns, who now studied at the DHfK.

Date: Thursday February 21, 1963

space	athlete	team	Time (h)
1	Renate Dannhauer	SC Motor Zella-Mehlis	19:59
2	Christine Nestler	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	20:11
3	Karin Jahns	SC DHfK Leipzig	20:36
3	Christa Herklotz	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	20:36
5	Gudrun Schmidt	SC Motor Zella-Mehlis	20:37
6th	Elfriede Spiegelhauer	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	20:51
7th	Gabriele Nobis	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	21:35
8th	Margarete Hess	SC Motor Zella-Mehlis	21:37
9	Christa Moser	Construction of Seiffen	21:43
10	Renate Koehler	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	21:48

10 km

After her victory over the short distance, Renate Dannhauer was unbeatable over the longer distance. She actually outclassed the competition, because the runner-up Christine Nestler was over a minute slower.

Date: Saturday February 23, 1963

space	athlete	team	Time (h)
1	Renate Dannhauer	SC Motor Zella-Mehlis	34:50
2	Christine Nestler	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	35:53
3	Christa Herklotz	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	36:00
4th	Gudrun Zschögner	SC Motor Zella-Mehlis	36:30
5	Gabriele Nobis	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	36:44
6th	Elfriede Spiegelhauer	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	36:57
7th	Karen Jahns	SC DHfK Leipzig	37:12
8th	Anni Körner	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	37:57
9	Luise Preiss	SC Motor Zella-Mehlis	38:02
10	Christa Moser	Construction of Seiffen	38:17

3x5 km relay

Unlike the men, the battle for the relay championship was very exciting. In the end, the two-time champion Renate Dannhauer was ahead of Christine Nestler by 2 seconds. Dannhauer was also the most successful participant in the championships.

Date: Sunday February 24, 1963

space	team	athlete	Time (h)
1	SC Motor Zella-Mehlis I	Luise Preiss Gudrun Zschögner Renate Dannhauer	1:00:23
2	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	Renate Koehler, Christa Herklotz, Christine Nestler	1:00:25
3	SC Dynamo Klingenthal I	Gabriele Nobis Anni Körner Elfriede Spiegelhauer	1:05:34

Nordic combination

The jumping from the Große Vogtlandschanze was decided by the local previous year's champion Rainer Dietel with a lead of over 13 points despite a fall. Behind them were his club mates Jürgen and Günter Meinel. With a lead of a good one and a half minutes, it was also clear that the weaker runner Dietel could still have problems in the decisive 15 km run. And so it happened. Jürgen Meinel in particular, who achieved the second-best running time, put Dietel in dire straits and did not even miss the championship title by a point. So Dietel could defend his championship title with a little luck. On the Bronzeplatz, Roland Weißpflog, who was only 20 years old from Oberwiesenthal, made people sit up and take notice, breaking into the long-term supremacy of the Klingenthal combiners.

Date: Ski jumping Thursday, February 21, 1963; 15 km Friday, February 22, 1963

space	athlete	team	Points
1	Rainer Dietel	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	489.81
2	Jürgen Meinel	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	488.90
3	Roland Weißpflog	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	476.88
4th	Günter Flauger	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	471.30
5	Günter Meinel	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	466.95
6th	Rolf Schönherr	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	455.45
7th	Herzer	ASK forward Brotterode	440.77
8th	Gold cock	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	438.15
9	pepper	SC Motor Zella-Mehlis	428.50
10	Manfred Meinhold	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	426.25

Ski jumping

After the first day of jumping, it smelled like a surprise. Not Olympic champion Recknagel or his form-strong club mate Veit Keuert were ahead, but the local Dietmar Klemm ahead of Kurt Schramm from Brotterode and again a local athlete, the newly crowned champion in the combined, Rainer Dietel. Recknagel was first in fourth place, Kühren was in sixth position, but only 6 points behind the leader. And these small distances made it possible for Recknagel to turn things around. With his stylistically clean jumps, he pushed his way forward, passage after passage, while the competition either jumped shorter or completely blundered like Rainer Dietel, who could only score widths of 84 and 81 m for a failed 87.5 m jump. And Veit Kühren was also able to win bronze with the daily best distance of 90 meters. The locals among the 10,000 spectators were able to cheer Dietmar Klemm's silver medal.

Date: Saturday, February 23, 1963 and Sunday, February 24, 1963

space	athlete	team	Points
1	Helmut Recknagel	SC Motor Zella-Mehlis	460.0
2	Dietmar Klemm	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	455.5
3	Veit Kühr	SC Motor Zella-Mehlis	454.2
4th	Kurt Schramm	ASK forward Brotterode	453.0
5	Bernd Karwofsky	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	448.4
6th	Rainer Dietel	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	439.1
7th	Wirth	ASK forward Brotterode	435.5
8th	Karl-Heinz Munk	SC Motor Zella-Mehlis	431.5
9	Horst Queck	SC Motor Zella-Mehlis	429.75
10	Dieter Bokeloh	ASK forward Brotterode	429.0

Medal table

Benefiting from the strong cross-country skiers and combiners, SC Dynamo Klingenthal was once again the most successful sports club. Thanks to a strong three-time champion Renate Dannhauer and Helmut Recknagel, SC Motor Zella-Mehlis won just as many titles as the Vogtländer Sportclub. Third place for Oberhof somewhat masked the fact that they only won one medal at the championships in Klingenthal.

Medal table (after all 9 competitions)
space	team	gold	silver	bronze	total
1	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	4th	3	3	10
2	SC Motor Zella-Mehlis	4th	0	1	5
3	ASK forward Oberhof	1	1	1	3
4th	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	0	3	3	6th
5	SG Dynamo Zinnwald	0	3	0	3
6th	SC DHfK Leipzig	0	0	1	1

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} ND of February 24, 1963 p. 8
2. ↑ ^{a b} ND of February 22, 1963 p. 6
3. ↑ ND from 4.Marz 1963 p.4
4. ↑ ^{a b c} ND of February 25, 1963 p. 4
5. ^ BZ of February 22, 1963 p. 8
6. ^ BZ of February 23, 1963 p. 7

literature

• Manfred Seifert, Roland Singer, Hans-Jürgen Zeume: Great love for skiing . Sportverlag, Berlin 1979, pp. 204-205