GDR Ski Championships 1969

The 21st GDR Ski Championships took place from January 27 to February 1, 1969 in Oberwiesenthal , Saxony . 316 athletes competed in ten decisions in the Nordic ski disciplines cross-country skiing , ski jumping and Nordic combined , two of which were team competitions, and six decisions in the Alpine ski disciplines. The competitions began on Tuesday and ended on Saturday, since athletes from ASK Oberhof stopped taking part in the competitions on Saturday, February 1st. They traveled to the Spartakiad of the Army Sports Associations. That is why the relay races were held on a Friday. Due to the competitive sport resolution of the SED Politburo of April 8, 1969, these were the last GDR championships in alpine skiing under competitive conditions. From 1970 onwards, the Alpine GDR champions, spatially and temporally separated from the ski championships, were carried out as a broad-based determination of the best.

Nordic skiing

Cross-country skiing

Men

15 km

Two days after the 30 kilometer run, things went better for the Oberhof athletes. With continued snowfall this time Gerhard Grimmer was able to prevail in the permanent duel with Gert-Dietmar Klause and won by almost three quarters of a minute. Axel Lesser rounded off the good result of the Oberhof runners with the bronze place.

Date: Thursday, 30. January 1969

space	athlete	team	Time (h)
1	Gerhard Grimmer	ASK forward Oberhof	52:23
2	Gert-Dietmar Klause	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	53:07
3	Axel Lesser	ASK forward Oberhof	53:52
4th	Joachim Kretschmar	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	54:12
5	Rainer Gross	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	54:17
6th	Gerd Hessler	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	54:23

30 km

The duel between Grimmer and Klause was expected in the men's opening competition. But the Oberhofer did not have optimally prepared skis and so had problems on the track. Defending champion Gert-Dietmar Klause had a 41 second lead over Grimmer halfway through the distance. The other co-favorite, Axel Lesser, also couldn't cope with the conditions on the trail and ended up in 8th place, over 6 minutes behind. Gerd Heßler from Klingenthal caused a surprise when he won his first runner-up title in his first year in the senior division.

Date: Tuesday January 28, 1969

space	athlete	team	Time (h)
1	Gert-Dietmar Klause	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	1:37:54
2	Gerd Hessler	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	1:38:20
3	Gerhard Grimmer	ASK forward Oberhof	1:40:32
4th	Georg Kowars	SC resin	1:41:28
5	Günter Stützner	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	1:42:53
6th	Jürgen Wolf	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	1:42:56

50 km

The longest running competition for men started with a handicap. As the ASK Oberhof and its athletes had already left for the Spartakiade of the army sports associations, defending champion Axel Lesser and co-favorite Gerhard Grimmer were missing. In their absence, the competition became almost a Klingenthal club championship. In the end, Gert-Dietmar Klause confidently won the title.

Date: Saturday February 1, 1979

space	athlete	team	Time (h)
1	Gert-Dietmar Klause	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	3:01:47
2	Jürgen Wolf	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	3: 3: 04
3	Schubert	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	3:07:42
4th	Joachim Kretschmar	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	3:09:23
5	Steffen Schulze	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	3:09:37
6th	Rainer Gross	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	3:10:49

4 × 10 km relay

In the eagerly awaited relay decision, the race was already decided after the start runners. Ironically, old hand Gerhard Grimmer lost almost a minute and a half to Rainer Groß from Klingenthal at the beginning. And the strong Hessler and Wolf as well as Grimmer's long-term rival Gert-Dietmar Klause increased the gap continuously. In the end, the Klingenthalers won by almost three and a half minutes. Ultimately, the Oberhof relay even had to worry about silver, as the biathlete relay from SG Dynamo Zinnwald only took 16 seconds longer.

Date: Friday January 31, 1969

space	team	athlete	Time (h)
1	SC Dynamo Klingenthal I	Rainer Groß Gerd Heßler Jürgen Wolf Gert-Dietmar Klause	2:25:45
2	ASK forward Oberhof	Gerhard Grimmer Wolfgang Hössrich Axel Lesser Abig	2:29:12
3	SG Dynamo Zinnwald	Hansjörg Knauthe Horst Koschka Reichard Dieter Speer	2:29:28
4th	SG Dynamo Johanngeorgenstadt		2:31:05
5	SC Dynamo Klingenthal II		2:32:24
6th	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal		2:35:00

Women

5 km

The last women's title went to Renate Koehler. She had already shown her strong form in the season. Silver just went to Karin Scheidel from Zella Mehliser, who was three seconds faster than Gabriele Haupt from Klingenthal.

Date: Saturday February 1, 1969

space	athlete	team	Time (h)
1	Renate Koehler	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	20:27
2	Karin Scheidel	SC Motor Zella-Mehlis	20:46
3	Gabriele Haupt	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	20:49
4th	Anna Unger	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	21:01
5	Gudrun Schmidt	BSG Motor Mitte Zella-Mehlis	21:21
6th	Christel Thiel	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	21:37

10 km

In the first women's running competition, Olympian Anni Unger left no doubts about her form. She won the race confidently by over three quarters of a minute. Runner-up was the Zella-Mehliserin Gudrun Schmidt, who won her last championship medal. Before the season started, Schmidt had already switched from SC Motor Zella-Mehlis to BSG Motor Mitte Zella-Mehlis, making him one of the few BSG athletes to win championship medals.

Date: Tuesday January 28, 1969

space	athlete	team	Time (h)
1	Anna Unger	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	38:08
2	Gudrun Schmidt	BSG Motor Mitte Zella-Mehlis	38:50
3	Gabriele Haupt	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	39:11
4th	Karin Scheidel	SC Motor Zella-Mehlis	39:31
5	Renate Koehler	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	39:38
6th	Christine Philipp	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	40:11

3x5 km relay

Even without Christine Nestler, who left a gap, the Oberwiesenthal relay team won the competition. Renate Köhler laid the foundation for this with the best time of the day, so that in the end, despite a strong Anni Unger, the lead was still 25 seconds.

Date: Friday January 31, 1969

space	team	athlete	Time (h)
1	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	Birgit Hunger Renate Koehler Christine Philipp	1:07:30
2	SC Dynamo Klingenthal I	Gabriele Haupt Christel Thiel Anna Unger	1:07:55
3	SC Dynamo Klingenthal II	Peter Hänsel R. Unger Dürrschmidt	1:11:00
4th	SC Motor Zella-Mehlis		1:11:14
5	SC Dynamo Klingenthal III		1:13:38
6th	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal II		1:13:46

Nordic combination

After the jumping, Karl-Heinz Luck was already in the lead, but the juniors first placed behind. Last year's champion Lothar Düring and the bronze medalist from Grenoble, Andreas Kunz initially disappointed, Kunz was only 16 after the jump, but as the fastest, Kunz was ultimately able to receive the bronze medal. Lothar Düring moved up to second place, just two points behind the new master Karl-Heinz Luck.

Date: Ski jumping Wednesday, January 29, 1969; 15 km Thursday, January 30, 1969

space	athlete	team	Points
1	Karl-Heinz Luck	SC Motor Zella-Mehlis	444.23
2	Lothar Düring	SG Dynamo Johanngeorgenstadt	442.12
3	Andreas Kunz	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	435.30
4th	Günter Münzner	SG Dynamo Johanngeorgenstadt	426.23
5	Möller	SG Dynamo Johanngeorgenstadt	414.76
6th	Roland Weißpflog	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	409.55

Ski jumping

Normal hill

The competition ended with a surprise due to the somewhat ailing top jumpers. Not the favored Horst Queck, Manfred Wolf or Heinz Schmidt, who was the best jumper in the GDR squad at the Four Hills Tournament, determined the competition, but Jürgen Dommerich, who was only known to connoisseurs until then. With two jumps of 81 meters each, the 20-year-old won his first and only championship title by a large margin.

Date: Thursday January 30, 1969

space	athlete	team	Points
1	Jürgen Dommerich	SC Motor Zella-Mehlis	234.3
2	Bernd Karwofsky	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	217.3
3	Peter Lesser	SC Motor Zella-Mehlis	216.2
4th	Christian Kiehl	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	215.7
5	Heinz Schmidt	SC Motor Zella-Mehlis	212.9
6th	Wolfgang Stöhr	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	210.2
7th	Bernd Willomitzer	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	208.2
8th	Baptistella	ASK forward Brotterode	204.9
9	Walther	SC Motor Zella-Mehlis	202.2
10	Schedewy	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	200.3

Large hill

After three runner-up titles, Horst Queck from Zella-Mehlis now won his first individual title on the Great Aschbergschanze near Klingenthal. Heinz Schmidt and Peter Lesser completed the Zella-Mehlis triple success. Jürgen Dommerich also showed with 5th place that his success on the normal hill was no coincidence. The performance of the Klingenthal hosts was disappointing. The first dynamo athlete was in 7th place, while 5 Zella-Mehlis athletes were among the top six.

Date: Saturday February 1, 1969

space	athlete	team	Points
1	Horst Queck	SC Motor Zella-Mehlis	239.7
2	Heinz Schmidt	SC Motor Zella-Mehlis	228.6
3	Peter Lesser	SC Motor Zella-Mehlis	222.4
4th	Christian Kiehl	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	218.4
5	Jürgen Dommerich	SC Motor Zella-Mehlis	217.8
6th	Rainer Schmidt	SC Motor Zella-Mehlis	205.5
7th	Bernd Karwofsky	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	201.4
8th	Wolfgang Stöhr	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	200.1
9	Heinz Wosipiwo	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	199.9
10	Schedewy	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	191.2

Alpine skiing

Giant slalom

The competition was held over a length of 1200 meters with a height difference of 314 meters. Each athlete completed two runs. Above 1000 meters it snowed, at lower altitudes the snow turned into rain.

Men

After the first run, Joachim Riedel was still a tenth of a second ahead of his teammate Jochen Klutz. However, the 19-year-old was thirteenth faster than Riedel in the second run and was able to win his first Alpine championship title.

Date: Wednesday 29. January 1969

space	athlete	team	total time
1	Jochen Klutz	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	2: 40.5
2	Joachim Riedel	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	2: 40.7
3	Friedrich Helm	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	2: 43.4

Women

After the first run, Erika Ullmann, who celebrated her 16th birthday, was one second ahead of Karin Schlick. This was able to make up exactly this gap in the second run, so that there were two winners in the end. The three-time winner of last year Christina Jung, now studying at the DHfK Leipzig, won bronze.

Date: Wednesday 29. January 1969

space	athlete	team	total time
1	Erika Ullmann	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	2: 42.5
1	Karin Schlick	SC DHfK Leipzig	2: 42.5
3	Christina Jung	SC DHfK Leipzig	2: 46.8

Special slalom

Men

Jochen Klutz was also ahead of Jochen Riedel in the special slalom.

Date: Saturday February 1, 1969

space	athlete	team	time
1	Jochen Klutz	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	1: 57.8
2	Joachim Riedel	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	1: 59.7
3	Andreas Estel	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	2: 00.5
4th	Claus-Dieter Haustein	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal
5	Stump	BSG Motor Jöhstadt
6th	Cobbler	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal

Women

In the special slalom, too, Erika Ullmann from Oberwiesenthal didn't give the competition a chance and won the competition with a large margin after two runs.

Date: Thursday, 30. January 1969

space	athlete	team	time
1	Erika Ullmann	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	1: 38.8
2	Bärbel Müller	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	1: 42.4
3	Christina Jung	SC DHfK Leipzig	1: 43.0
4th	Wood turner	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal
5	Loos	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal
6th	Kraus	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal

Alpine combination

Men

By winning both sub-disciplines, winning the combination was the logical consequence. Klutz was also three times GDR champion.

Date: Saturday February 1, 1969

space	athlete	team	Points
1	Jochen Klutz	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	0
2	Joachim Riedel	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	9.78
3	Claus-Dieter Haustein	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	40.24

Women

With two victories in the individual disciplines, Erika Ullmann also won the Alpine Combined with the ideal score of 0 points. The only 16-year-old athlete from SC Traktor Oberwiesenthal was now three times GDR champion. The decision about the runner-up title was extremely tight. In the end, Bärbel Müller, who won silver from Christina Jung, was only 0.6 points ahead.

Date: Thursday, 30. January 1969

space	athlete	team	Points
1	Erika Ullmann	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	0
2	Bärbel Müller	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	39.38
3	Christina Jung	SC DHfK Leipzig	39.98
4th	Karin Schlick	SC DHfK Leipzig	74.26
5	Griebel	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	77.54
6th	Loos	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	85.60

Medal table

Nordic skiing

With almost half of all medals, including four gold ones, the Klingenthal dynamo athletes were the most successful. The ASK Oberhof was denied a slightly better result, as no ASK athlete took part in the jumping from the large hill and the 50 kilometer run. Medals would have been possible, especially over the long haul.

Medal table (after all 10 competitions)
space	team	gold	silver	bronze	total
1	SC Dynamo Klingenthal	4th	5	5	14th
2	SC Motor Zella-Mehlis	3	2	2	7th
3	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	2	0	0	2
4th	ASK forward Oberhof	1	1	2	4th
5	SG Dynamo Johanngeorgenstadt	0	1	0	1
5	BSG Motor Mitte Zella-Mehlis	0	1	0	1
7th	SG Dynamo Zinnwald	0	1	1	1

Alpine skiing

In the Alpine category, the medals only went to one club and one university: SC Traktor Oberwiesenthal won 6 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze medals, and the DHfK in Leipzig received one gold medal and three bronze medals.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} ND of January 31, 1969. p. 5
2. ↑ ^{a b} BZ of January 29, 1969 p. 8
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} ND of February 2, 1969 p. 8
4. ↑ ^{a b} BZ of February 1, 1969 p. 4
5. ↑ ^{a b c} ND of January 30, 1969 p. 7
6. ↑ ^{a b} BZ of January 31, 1969 p. 8
7. ^ BZ of February 2, 1969 p. 7
8. ↑ Neue Zeit of February 1, 1969 p. 10

literature

• Manfred Seifert, Roland Singer, Hans-Jürgen Zeume: Great love for skiing . Sportverlag, Berlin 1979, pp. 207-208; 219