Fritz Pingl

Fritz Pingl
nation	Austria
birthday	January 15, 1931
place of birth	Mariazell, Austria
Career
Best performance	1.96 m high jump (1956) 14.60 m triple jump (1959)
End of career	1960
Medal table
Austrian championships 15 × 1 × 0 ×
Austrian championship gold 1953, 1954, 1957 Pentathlon gold 1956, 1957, 1958 high jump gold 1956, 1958, 1959 Triple jump gold 1956, 1956 Decathlon gold 1956, 1956 Long jump gold 1956, 1959 Relay 4 × 100 m silver 1959 high jump
last change: March 31, 2020

Fritz Pingl (born January 15, 1931 in Mariazell ; † November 21, 2015 in Leoben ) was an Austrian athlete .

Career

Between 1953 and 1959 Fritz Pingl was twelve times Austrian national champion in athletics.

In 1957 he set a new Austrian high jump record with 1.96 m . In 1958, due to his success, he became the first Styrian athlete of the year.

The high jump technique developed by Fritz Pingl himself in the early 1950s is considered to be the forerunner of the "Fosbury flop" : in 1968 the American Dick Fosbury achieved international success with this technique . Despite his national championships, Pringl's technique was not internationally known. Since at that time no plastic mats made a soft landing on the back possible, but landed in the sand, Pringl turned before landing. Other athletes who tried to copy him failed, so Pingl's technique was forgotten.

From 1958 he was also successful in the triple jump . He was active until 1960. Fritz Pingl lived with his wife Renate in Mariazell .

Web links

• Austrian championships in Feldkirch, 1959 (video; Helmut Donner and Fritz Pingl - high jump)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Death Letter
2. ↑ ^{a b} Fritz Pingl - a high jump pioneer (March 30, 2020)
3. ↑ Styrian SPORTSMAN, TEAM and TRAINER of the YEAR