Gold key race

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The gold key races were international women's ski races that were held from 1963 to 1983 in Montafon in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg .

Surname

Coat of arms of the Montafon valley

Two crossed golden keys show that it belongs to the Montafon valley : This symbol as a state seal has been used since the early 15th century and can be found on many of the region's coats of arms (e.g. Schruns ). Therefore, the organizers chose the name "Goldkey Race" as a reference to the venue .

history

The Montafon Ski Club, founded in 1949, organized the International Montafon Two-Piste Races as early as the 1950s , in which men and women had to tackle two different runs from the Hochjoch (with destination in Schruns) and on Grabs (with destination in Tschagguns ). Prominent participants were u. a. the Olympic champions Stein Eriksen , Henri Oreiller and Othmar Schneider .

From January 14th to 17th, 1963, international FIS women's ski races took place for the first time under the name Montafon Goldkey Races . The competitions were held every two years from now on. In the first two editions, in addition to downhill, slalom and combination , a giant slalom was also driven.

From 1967 the gold key races took place as part of the newly introduced World Cup . Initially, the ski was on Grabs , from 1971 to 1975 on the Kapell run from Hochjoch and from 1977 on the Golm .

Award ceremony of the Kapellabfahrt from Hochjoch 1975:
1. Bernadette Zurbriggen , 2. Ingrid Schmid-Gfölner , 3. Marie-Theres Nadig

In 1963 Erika Netzer from St. Gallenkirch ensured the first and last Montafon home win. In the later years, well-known names such as Rosi Mittermaier , Annemarie Moser-Pröll , Bernadette Zurbriggen and Hanni Wenzel entered the list of winners several times. The record winner is the French Marielle Goitschel with six wins.

In 1975, the then 16-year-old Nicola Spieß caused a sensation because, due to the poor visibility with start number 1, she swung off after a few seconds on the descent in Schruns. Marie-Theres Nadig and the US runner Cindy Nelson then went out onto the slopes, saw the spike standing on the edge of the track and also stopped. The break on the Kapellabfahrt was the logical consequence. The repetition of the race on January 16 was then won by Bernadette Zurbriggen from Switzerland .

Boycott 1983

In 1983 there was a scandal. After the replacement descent for Pfronten and the slalom had been carried out according to plan, there was a controversial boycott of the actual Goldkey descent: Although the racing jury had decided to carry out the descent, only the teams from Canada , Liechtenstein and Austria were at the start and the Soviet Union , while all the others had already left after opting out of attendance for tactical reasons. Due to the damage caused, those responsible from politics and tourism decided not to organize any more World Cup races and the era of the Montafon gold key races came to an end.

In the years that followed, efforts to bring the Men's World Cup to the Montafon failed. In the winter of 1991/92 the women's world cup returned to Tschagguns with downhill, slalom and combination. The competitions took place on the Anita Wachter World Cup course on the Golm, renamed after Anita Wachter from Montafon .

Since then, FIS races and European Cup competitions have taken place regularly in the Montafon, but no more World Cup races. The region currently has no race track suitable for the World Cup.

Winners list

No.	date	piste	Departure	slalom	Combination 1	Giant slalom
11	January 14-22, 1983	Golm	Doris De Agostini 2	Anni Kronbichler	Olga Charvátová 3	-
10	January 12-13, 1981	Golm	Doris De Agostini	Erika Hess	Hanni Wenzel	-
9	January 23-26, 1979	Golm	Annemarie Moser-Pröll	Lea Sölkner	Annemarie Moser-Pröll	-
8th	January 14-18, 1977	Golm	Bernadette Zurbriggen	Lise-Marie Morerod	Hanni Wenzel	-
7th	January 15-16, 1975	Chapel	Bernadette Zurbriggen	Christa Zechmeister	Annemarie Moser-Pröll	-
6th	1st - 2nd February 1973	Chapel	Annemarie Moser-Pröll	Rosi Mittermaier	Wiltrud Drexel	-
5	January 18-21, 1971	Chapel	Michèle Jacot	Betsy Clifford	Wiltrud Drexel	-
4th	January 15-16, 1969	Grabs	Wiltrud Drexel	Rosi Mittermaier	Annie Famose	-
3	January 18-19, 1967	Grabs	Marielle Goitschel	Marielle Goitschel	Marielle Goitschel	-
2	19-22 January 1965	Grabs	Christl Haas	Marielle Goitschel	Marielle Goitschel	Marielle Goitschel
1	January 14-17, 1963	Grabs	Traudl Hecher	Marianne Jahn	Erika Netzer	Marianne Jahn

Remarks:

¹ The combinations 1975, 1977, 1979 and 1983 were counted as World Cup races.

² Doris de Agostini won the replacement descent for Pfronten on January 14, 1983 on the Golm . The boycotted gold key descent was added on January 22nd in Megève and won by Elisabeth Kirchler .

³ The 1983 combination consisted of the slalom on the Golm on January 15th and the first descent from Megève on January 21st.

Web links and literature

• SC Montafon
• WSV Tschagguns
• All World Cup races in Schruns on the FIS website
• Mag. Andreas Brugger: 100 years of skiing in the Montafon. Schruns 2006 (special volume 3 of the Montafon series)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "A healthy pretzel makes you faster" (February 6, 2011)
2. ↑ Scandal like never before . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna January 18, 1983, p. 11 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
3. ↑ Montafon wants world cup races again