Gerhard Pilz

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gerhard Pilz Luge
nation AustriaAustria Austria
birthday July 17, 1965
place of birth Bad Ischl
size 180 cm
Weight 79 kg
job Commercial clerk
Career
discipline Single seater, double seater
society ASKÖ Gmunden
status resigned
End of career 2007
Medal table
World championships 5 × gold 4 × silver 1 × bronze
European championships 2 × gold 1 × silver 1 × bronze
FIL Natural Track Luge World Championships
gold Fénis-Aosta 1986 Single seater
gold Casies 1990 Single seater
gold Bad Goisern 1992 Single seater
gold Casies 1994 Single seater
gold Oberperfuss 1996 Single seater
silver Olang 2000 Single seater
silver Stein an der Enns 2001 team
bronze Stein an der Enns 2001 Single seater
silver Železniki 2003 Single seater
silver Grande Prairie 2007 Single seater
FIL European Natural Track Luge Championships
silver Garmisch-Partenk. 1989 Single seater
bronze Moos in Passeier 1997 Single seater
gold Frantschach 2002 Single seater
gold Hüttau 2004 Single seater
Placements in the Natural Track Luge World Cup
 Debut in the World Cup December 13, 1992
 World Cup victories 19th
 Overall World Cup ES 1. ( 2000/2001 , 2001/2002 )
 Overall World Cup DS 6. ( 1994/1995 )
Podium placements 1. 2. 3.
 Single seater 19th 9 13
 Two-seater 0 0 1
 

Gerhard Pilz (born July 17, 1965 in Bad Ischl ) is a former Austrian natural track luge . From 1985 to 2007 he was a member of the Austrian natural track tobogganing team. With five world championship titles , two European championship titles , two overall world cup victories and 19 victories in world cup races, he is one of the most successful natural track tobogganers. He was also five times Austrian national champion in the single seater.

Career

Pilz came into contact with natural tobogganing as a small child in his home town of Bad Goisern on Lake Hallstatt , where races were held regularly. As a ten-year-old he competed in the first races and in 1980 he was accepted into the Austrian junior squad. In the junior class he achieved numerous successes at national championships and international events, including becoming Austrian junior champion in single-seater in 1984. At the Junior European Championships in 1982 in Fénis he achieved 17th place in the single-seater, in 1983 in Davos fourth place in the doubles and fifth place in the single-seater and in 1984 in Hol seventh place in the single-seater. Later he mainly competed in singles at international competitions. In February 1983 he achieved 19th place in the single seater at his first European championship in St. Konrad .

In 1985 Pilz was accepted into the national team and achieved fifth place at the European Championships in Szczyrk . His big breakthrough came at the 1986 World Cup in Fénis , when he became world champion for the first time ahead of the Italians Damiano Lugon and Harald Steinhauser . In doing so, he laid the foundation for one of the most successful natural track luge careers to date. After the world championship in 1988 had to be canceled due to weather conditions, Pilz was able to successfully defend his world championship title four times in a row in 1990 , 1992 , 1994 and 1996 , making him the most successful natural track tobogganist to this day in terms of world championship titles. At the European Championships, he was initially less successful. In these years, a second place in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1989 was his best result. Apart from world and European championships, he achieved numerous successes in the years before the introduction of the World Cup. In 1986 he won the international 2-track tour, in 1988 the Grand Prix of South Tyrol and Canada , in 1990 the Grand Prix of the Soviet Union and in 1991 and 1992 the European Cup . In addition, he was the first Austrian national champion in the single seater in 1989. He won this title four times from 1994 to 1997.

When the Natural Track Luge World Cup was held for the first time in the winter of 1992/1993 , Pilz was one of the world's best in this racing series from the very beginning. With two victories in Rautavaara and Gummer and a third place in Bruck , he achieved second place in the overall standings in the first World Cup season. Only the Italian Franz Obrist scored more points. In the winter of 1993/1994 Pilz remained without a win, achieved three third places and came fourth in the overall World Cup. In the 1994/1995 season , he again won two races in Olang and Kreuth , placing him third in the overall World Cup. He also achieved third place in the doubles with Reinhard Beer in Negaunee and sixth in the overall doubles World Cup. In the 1995/1996 season , in which Pilz became world champion for the fifth time, he won three World Cup races (two in Rautavaara and one in Stange ) and only had to admit defeat to Italian Anton Blasbichler in the overall World Cup . The following winter, the bronze medal at the European Championships in 1997 in Moos in Passeier was his greatest success, in the World Cup he remained without a win and with three third places fell back to sixth place in the overall World Cup.

In the 1997/1998 season he celebrated his eighth World Cup victory in Sölden and achieved second place in the overall World Cup for the third time with another two podium places, again only beaten by one Italian, Reinhard Gruber . At the 1998 World Cup , after his five World Cup titles that year, he was fourth without a medal for the first time , and fifth at the 1999 European Championships . In the winter of 1998/1999 , Pilz did not make it into the top three in the overall World Cup despite a victory in Sölden. In the 1999/2000 season he reached a podium finish in all six World Cup races, and he also won a victory at the season opener in Oberperfuss . In the overall standings, however, he again had to be content with second place. This time his compatriot Ferdinand Hirzegger was unbeatable with four wins this season. At the 2000 World Cup , he won the silver medal just three hundredths of a second behind Gerald Kallan .

After his four second places in the overall World Cup, the then 35-year-old was able to win the overall ranking for the first time in the 2000/2001 season with three victories (in Umhausen , Moscow and Hüttau ) in five races. He was able to repeat this success the next winter , when he was again overall World Cup winner with three wins (twice in Olang and once in Železniki ). Pilz was also successful at the 2001 World Championships in Stein an der Enns , where he won bronze in the singles and together with Marlies Wagner , Peter Lechner and Peter Braunegger silver in the team competition, which was held for the first time, and at the 2002 European Championships in Frantschach-Sankt Gertraud , where he Six years after his last world championship title, he became European champion in the single-seater for the first time. After these successes he was honored with the Golden Merit of the Republic of Austria . In 1996 he had already been awarded the Silver Medal of Merit. In the 2002/2003 season , Pilz achieved second place in the overall World Cup for the fifth time with two victories in Hüttau and Kindberg . Overall winner this winter was his teammate Robert Batkowski , 15 points ahead , who also relegated him to second place at the 2003 World Cup in Železniki.

In February 2004, Pilz became European champion for the second time at the European Championships in Hüttau. Two weeks later he celebrated his 19th and last World Cup victory in the last race of the 2003/2004 season in Aurach , and fourth in the overall World Cup. In the winter of 2004/2005 , Pilz remained without a podium and finished the overall World Cup in sixth place. At the 2005 World Championships in Latsch , he finished fifth. Due to injury, Pilz was only able to contest two World Cup races in the 2005/2006 season and only achieved 16th place at the 2006 European Championships in Umhausen. In the next winter he made a successful comeback when he achieved three podium places in his last World Cup season 2006/2007 and thus reached third place in the overall World Cup. On February 19, 2007, he ended his career by winning the silver medal at the World Championships in Grande Prairie at the age of 41.

In addition to natural track tobogganing, Pilz also competed in roller luge competitions . Two overall victories in the International Roller Luge Summer Cup in 1999 and 2001, the victory in the Summer Grand Prix of Germany in 1999 and the victory in the Summer Grand Prix of Liechtenstein in 2000 are among his greatest successes. Mountaineering is one of his greatest hobbies . In addition to numerous ascents in the Alps, he also undertook many expeditions in South America and Asia. Among other things, he was involved in the first Austrian ascent of the 7126 meter high Himlung in Nepal in 2004 .

Gerhard Pilz has been the national trainer for German natural track tobogganers since October 2008.

Sporting successes

World championships

European championships

Junior European Championships

World cup
date place country discipline
December 13, 1992 Rautavaara Finland Single seater
February 7, 1993 Gummer Italy Single seater
January 29, 1995 Olang Italy Single seater
5th February 1995 Kreuth Germany Single seater
December 27, 1995 Rautavaara Finland Single seater
December 30, 1995 Rautavaara Finland Single seater
February 11, 1996 pole Italy Single seater
November 23, 1997 Soelden Austria Single seater
December 6, 1998 Soelden Austria Single seater
December 19, 1999 Oberperfuss Austria Single seater
January 4, 2001 Umhausen Austria Single seater
February 11, 2001 Moscow Russia Single seater
February 18, 2001 Huettau Austria Single seater
December 15, 2001 Olang Italy Single seater
December 16, 2001 Olang Italy Single seater
January 27, 2002 Železniki Slovenia Single seater
January 26, 2003 Huettau Austria Single seater
January 30, 2003 Kindberg Austria Single seater
February 21, 2004 Aurach Austria Single seater

Austrian championships

  • Austrian national champion in singles in 1989, 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sixfold victory for Austria in the men's Gietl (ITA) beats Lavrentjeva (RUS). International Luge Federation, January 11, 2009, accessed on July 27, 2010.
  2. ↑ Natural track: BSD cracks at EM without a medal chance: 23rd European Championships St. Sebastian (AUT). ( Memento of the original from February 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Bobsleigh and sledge association for Germany, January 17, 2010, accessed on July 27, 2010.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bsd-portal.de
  3. ↑ Tobogganing: Hackl and Pilz in the “Hall of Fame”. Focus Online , June 18, 2012, accessed June 19, 2012.
personal data
SURNAME Pilz, Gerhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian natural track toboggan runner
DATE OF BIRTH July 17, 1965
PLACE OF BIRTH Bad Ischl , Austria