Eva Walkner

Eva Walkner
nation	Austria
birthday	16th June 1979 (age 41)
place of birth	Kuchl
job	Sports journalist
Career
discipline	Freeride
status	active
Medal table
Freeride World Tour 2 × 3 × 0 ×
Freeride World Tour silver Freeride World Tour 2012 ski gold Freeride World Tour 2015 ski gold Freeride World Tour 2016 ski silver Freeride World Tour 2017 ski silver Freeride World Tour 2018 ski
Placements in the Alpine Ski World Cup
Individual World Cup debut January 3, 1999

Eva Walkner (born June 16, 1979 in Kuchl , Salzburg ) is an Austrian freeride athlete and former ski racer . The freelance journalist and filmmaker won the Freeride World Tour twice (2015 and 2016) and was runner-up three times (2012, 2017 and 2018). Her younger brother Matthias is a successful motocross driver.

biography

Alpine skiing

Eva Walkner learned to ski at the age of three. At the age of 15 she competed in her first FIS races and made her debut on December 20, 1995 in the downhill from Zauchensee in the European Cup . After less than satisfactory results, she achieved her first podium finishes at FIS level in February 1998. After a victory in November of the same year, she was also among the top ten in the European Cup for the first time. On January 3rd, 1999, she made her World Cup debut in the Maribor slalom . At the Junior World Championships in Pra-Loup , she just missed a medal as fourth in the slalom, and was eliminated in the giant slalom. Her greatest national success was on March 25, 2001 when she won the slalom bronze medal at the Austrian championships . In February 2002 she took second place in the slalom in Bad Hofgastein , her first of three Europcup podium places. On February 3, 2003, she contested her last of a total of 51 European Cup races. In eight slalom World Cup starts, she never managed to qualify for the second round.

Freeride

After several injuries, Walkner was forced to end her racing career at the age of 23. She then trained as a sports journalist and worked for a while as a television editor at Premiere . After becoming aware of the freeride sport, in 2010 she qualified for the exclusively occupied World Tour . She achieved her first victory on March 10, 2012 in Fieberbrunn , and finished the season as vice world champion with two more podium places. At the 2013 season opener in Revelstoke, Canada, she suffered the third cruciate ligament rupture of her career and missed the following two winters as a result of complications. Thanks to a wildcard , they quickly re-entered the tour. On her comeback in January 2015, she won the first competition in Chamonix and then took three second places, which was the first time she was crowned world champion of the Freeride World Tour. With victories in Chamonix and Haines as well as two second places, she was able to repeat this feat in 2016. In the course of the Salzburg Sports Gala, she was awarded a silver Leonidas for her seasonal performance.

She ended the 2017 season after one victory (in Verbier ) and two more podium places as runner-up world champion behind her compatriot Lorraine Huber . In the following season, she celebrated a victory ( Kicking Horse ) and again finished second in the overall standings.

Sporting successes

Alpine skiing

• Third of the Austrian Slalom Championships 2001
• 3 podium places in the European Cup
• 2 victories in FIS races

Freeride

• World Champion of the Freeride World Tour 2015 and 2016
• Vice World Champion 2012, 2017 and 2018
• 6 victories on the World Tour

Single results

year	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	Points	World Cup rank
2012	8th.	6th	3.	1.	2.		8135	2.
2013	8th.	-	-	-	-	-	1130	13.
2014	No results due to injury
2015	1.	2.	2.	2.	8th.		9100	1.
2016	1.	1.	2.	2.	10.		9400	1.
2017	4th	5.	2.	3.	1.		8480	2.
2018	3.	1.	2.	2.	3.		8880	2.

Movies

Apart from the World Tour, Eva Walkner made a name for herself as a documentary filmmaker . One of her first productions came about in March 2008 when she undertook a sweet spot expedition to Iran for her supplier Nike . In addition to freeriding, the focus was on Persian culture and skiing in Dizin . In February 2011 Walkner toured the Kashmir region and shot the short film Path of Roses in Gulmarg . After her third cruciate ligament rupture, she began planning an Alaska expedition, which she finally started in spring 2014 with her World Tour competitors Nadine Wallner and Christine Hargin . The cinematic implementation of Exploring Alaska was shown at the Freeride Film Festival in Vienna in 2016 . Another contribution to the film festival, Evolution of Dreams , was made in 2017 in collaboration with Walkner's colleague Jackie Paaso. The film, which was shot in Chamonix and on the Arlberg among others , shows the career of the two athletes, including their roots in alpine and freestyle sports.

Filmography

• 2008: Nike ACG Sweetspot - Iran
• 2012: Path of Roses
• 2016: Exploring Alaska
• 2017: Evolution of Dreams

Web links

• Official website
• Eva Walkner in the database of the International Ski Federation (English)
• Eva Walkner on the website of the Freeride World Tour (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Eva Walkner - My Life. Eva Walkner, accessed December 23, 2017 . 
2. ↑ Freeruder Walkner has to skip the season. ORF , November 21, 2013, accessed on December 15, 2017 . 
3. ↑ Nikolaus Klinger: Leonidas Gala: Marcel Hirscher grabs the fifth lion. Salzburger Nachrichten , April 8, 2016, accessed on December 23, 2017 . 
4. ↑ FM4 Private Stand - Freeskiing in Iran (Interview with Gerald Votava). Eva Walkner / FM4 , August 2008, accessed December 25, 2017 . 
5. ^ Eva Walkner: Freeride instead of high-performance team. ORF , March 21, 2012, accessed on December 25, 2017 . 
6. ↑ Eva Walkner presents her freeride film "Path of Roses". sportalpen.com, 2011, accessed December 25, 2017 . 
7. ↑ Julia Schwarzmayr: Interview with Freeride World Champion Eva Walkner. freeskiers.net, October 19, 2016, accessed December 25, 2017 . 
8. ↑ Hannes Kropik: Eva Walkner: "It's exciting to develop further". Freeride Film Festival, October 16, 2017, accessed December 25, 2017 .