Franz Zingerle

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Franz Zingerle Alpine skiing
nation AustriaAustria Austria
birthday December 11, 1908
place of birth Axams
date of death June 12, 1988
Place of death Axams
Career
discipline Downhill , slalom , combination
society SV Axams
End of career 1939
Medal table
World championships 1 × gold 0 × silver 0 × bronze
FIS Alpine World Ski Championships
gold Murren 1935 Departure
 

Franz Zingerle (born December 11, 1908 in Axams , Tyrol ; † June 12, 1988 there ) was an Austrian ski racer . In the 1930s he won numerous international races. In 1935 he became world champion in downhill skiing .

biography

Zingerle grew up as the eldest of eight children of a poor Tyrolean farming family and felt drawn to skiing even in his childhood. He made his own skis out of stone pine and bent the tips at the ends in boiling water. As a teenager, he first worked as a laborer and then learned the mason trade . At the age of 17 he bought skis for the first time and joined the Axams ski club, which held its first ski races on the Birgitzer Alm. Shortly after joining, he became the club's first club champion in 1926, thus starting his racing career.

At the age of 21 he came to the Tirol Ski Club, where he was able to regularly take part in ski races from the winter of 1929/30. In the following season he was downhill and slalom winner in Seefeld . In winter 1932, he won in Zell am See , the downhill and the combined competition at the Austrian Championships and took in Cortina d'Ampezzo for the first time at the later for World Cup declared FIS -race part where he out ran his best result with sixth place in the slalom. With second place in downhill and slalom, he also won the combination on Feldberg in the Black Forest in the same year , after which he concluded the season with a victory in slalom at the Arlberg-Kandahar races in St. Anton . In the winter of 1933 he won the Tyrolean downhill skiing championship and the cross-country skiing competition at the Vorarlberg championships . With these achievements he qualified for the ÖSV contingent of the home world championship in Innsbruck, where he disappointed after a good fourth place in the later canceled special downhill with seventh place in the combined downhill and a failure in the goal run. He achieved a respectable success in the cross-country skiing competition over 50 km in which he was able to place himself in 15th place as the second best Austrian. At the following Austrian championships in Kitzbühel , the now 24-year-old Axamer took second place in slalom and combined. In the same winter he secured the combined victory in the battle for the "Golden Ring" in Seefeld.

In 1934, Franz Zingerle successfully passed the state ski instructor examination and thus secured a second professional pillar. In the same year he took over a post as a supervisor for the first time and became national coach of the Czechoslovak team. Due to this activity he only appeared sporadically in a few larger races this year and, like all Austrians, was absent from the World Championship in St. Moritz . He celebrated his only significant success in the 1933/34 season when he won the downhill run from the Glungezer , an energy-sapping race that was becoming more and more traditional at that time. In the winter of 1935, Zingerle concentrated on his racing career again and celebrated his greatest triumph of his career with the victory in downhill skiing at the world championship in Mürren . He also achieved top positions at the Austrian championships in Zell am See and was very successful in international races abroad, where he won the Grand Prix of the ČSR in the High Tatras and the downhill run on the Marmolada in the Dolomites .

He also proved his qualities in the downhill in 1936 by winning the overall ranking of the six-day race in Sestriere , which consisted of downhill runs on six consecutive days. In addition, he won the Glungezer race again and took second place in the Glockner race. He was not allowed to take part in the Olympic Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen due to his work as a ski instructor, and at the home world championship in Innsbruck, which also took place in the same year , he could not finish the downhill run and then did not take part in the slalom. In the winter of 1937 he started at a world championship for the last time , but with a disappointing 13th place in the slalom, he was unable to match previous performances. His only podium of the season was third on the Lauberhorn downhill run in Wengen . He achieved other good results with a fifth place in downhill skiing and seventh place in the gate run at the Megève Grand Prix . After that, Franz Zingerle ended his active career and only contested regional races, where he was able to win the title of Tyrolean downhill champion again in 1939.

During his last season as an active player in 1937/38 he also worked as a coach for the French women's national team. In the winter of 1938/39 he took over the Polish national team, but had to retire from this post after the start of the war. In the Second World War, Franz Zingerle fell into captivity . After his return home, he went back to his old job as a bricklayer and took care of the small family farm . He only pursued skiing as a supporter of his only child, his daughter Christine, who showed great talent during school and youth, but was ultimately not enthusiastic about a career as a racing driver. In his Tyrolean hometown, the Franz-Zingerle-Weg is a reminder of the former ski hero.

successes

Alpine World Ski Championships

Nordic World Ski Championships

  • Innsbruck 1933 : 15th 50 km cross-country skiing, 53rd 18 km cross-country skiing

FIS races

First places

  • Downhill and slalom in Seefeld in 1931
  • Slalom at the Arlberg-Kandahar race in St. Anton 1932
  • Downhill and combined at the Austrian Championships in Zell am See 1932
  • Combination in Feldberg 1932
  • Combination in Seefeld 1933 ("Golden Ring")
  • Downhill from the Glungezer race in 1934
  • Downhill and slalom at the Grand Prix of the ČSR 1935
  • Departure on the Marmolada in 1935
  • Downhill at the Glungezer race in 1936
  • Combination in Sestriere 1936

Second places

  • Departure from Kitzbühel in 1932
  • Downhill and slalom at the German Championships on Feldberg in 1932
  • Slalom and combination at the Austrian Championships in Kitzbühel in 1933
  • Downhill, slalom and combination at the Austrian Championships in Zell am See 1935
  • 4. Departure from Sestriere in 1936
  • Downhill at the Glockner race in 1936

Third places

  • 5th departure from Sestriere in 1936
  • Departure from Wengen in 1937

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Zingerle, Franz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian ski racer
DATE OF BIRTH December 11, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Axams , Tyrol
DATE OF DEATH June 12, 1988
Place of death Axams , Tyrol