Harald Kleinhofer
Harald Kleinhofer 
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 Austria
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| birthday | May 21, 1974 | ||||||||
| place of birth | Bruck an der Mur , Austria | ||||||||
| job | Machinist | ||||||||
| date of death | January 28, 2016 | ||||||||
| Career | |||||||||
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| discipline | Two-seater | ||||||||
| society | ASKÖ St. Sebastian | ||||||||
| National squad | since 1998 | ||||||||
| End of career | 2005 | ||||||||
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| Placements in the Natural Track Luge World Cup | |||||||||
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Harald Kleinhofer (born May 21, 1974 in Bruck an der Mur ; † January 28, 2016 ) was an Austrian natural track luge . The Styrian living in St. Sebastian formed a two-seater couple with Gerhard Mühlbacher until his resignation in 2005 . They won the bronze medal at the 2003 World Championships , achieved a total of eleven podium places in World Cup races and were twice Austrian champions.
Career
Harald Kleinhofer and his doubles partner Gerhard Mühlbacher took part in a world championship for the first time in Rautavaara in 1998 , where they finished fourth. The next year they were disqualified in the first run at the 1999 European Championships in Szczyrk . They achieved their first podium places in the World Cup in January 2000 when they finished third in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and second a week later in Gummer . Another week later, they achieved fifth place at the 2000 World Cup in Olang . In the overall World Cup they only achieved seventh place in the 1999/2000 season, despite the two podium places, because after the World Cup they only took part in one of the three remaining World Cup races, but did not finish. After a long break - they did not take part in the 2001 World Championships either - they did not contest their next World Cup race until February 2001 in Moscow , where they immediately came second again. At the season finale in Hüttau they came fourth and thus ninth in the overall World Cup for the 2000/2001 season . In addition, in 2001 they became Austrian champions in the doubles for the first time; they won the second national title two years later.
In the 2001/2002 World Cup season, Harald Kleinhofer and Gerhard Mühlbacher first achieved two third places in Olang and then two second places in the parallel competition in Triesenberg and Umhausen , which meant they were second in the overall ranking. With ranks seven and four in the last two competitions, they fell back to fourth place in the overall World Cup. They also achieved fourth place overall in the following 2002/2003 season . This winter, two third places in Umhausen and Kindberg were her best World Cup results. After Kleinhofer / Mühlbacher were again just fourth without precious metal at the European Championships in Frantschach-Sankt Gertraud in 2002 , they won the 2003 World Championships in Železniki behind their teammates Wolfgang and Andreas Schopf and the Russians Pawel Porschnew and Ivan Lasarew , who won this year won the overall World Cup, the bronze medal. After the first of the two races they were fourth again just behind the medal ranks, but with the second best time in the second run they were able to improve to third. For Harald Kleinhofer this was the greatest success in his career and in the same year he was awarded the Golden Merit Medal of the Republic of Austria .
The 2003/2004 season started Kleinhofer / Mühlbacher with second place in Olang and third place in Grande Prairie . After that, however, they only achieved two seventh and one eighth place, making them fifth in the overall World Cup. At the 2004 European Championship in Hüttau - the last major event for Harald Kleinhofer - they finished ninth. In the 2004/2005 season they only took part in the two World Cup races in Oberperfuss , where they finished sixth in the first race but were canceled in the second. Harald Kleinhofer then ended his career; Gerhard Mühlbacher then started with Christian Schatz .
Harald Kleinhofer works as a wood carver , specializes in the field of mask carving and is committed to the preservation of customs .
Sporting successes
(with Gerhard Mühlbacher)
World championships
- Rautavaara 1998 : 4th two-seater
- Olang 2000 : 5th two-seater
- Železniki 2003 : 3rd doubles
European championships
- Frantschach 2002 : 4th two-seater
- Hüttau 2004 : 9th two-seater
World cup
- 4th place in the overall double-seater World Cup in the 2001/2002 and 2002/2003 seasons
- 5th place in the overall double-seater World Cup in the 2003/2004 season
- 11 podiums in world cup races
Austrian championships
- Austrian national champion in doubles in 2001 and 2003
Awards
Web links
- Harald Kleinhofer in the database of the International Luge Federation
Individual evidence
- ↑ Obituary notice (SCAN). In: woidwuzzler.at. Retrieved February 5, 2017 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kleinhofer, Harald |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian natural track toboggan runner |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 21, 1974 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bruck an der Mur , Austria |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 28, 2016 |