Heinrich "Heini" Baumgartner (born July 27, 1963 ) is a former Swiss freestyle skier . He was largely specialized in the no longer performed discipline ballet (acro) . In this discipline, he won three bronze medals at world championships as well as the discipline classification in the World Cup and 13 individual competitions.
Heini Baumgartner took part in the international freestyle youth championships in Saas-Fee in December 1981 and was ranked 21st and 35th in ballet and on the mogul slope . He made his debut in the Freestyle Skiing World Cup in February 1984 in Courchevel . His first place in the points he achieved in March of the following year with a sixth place in Mariazell . From his second season in the World Cup, he occasionally started on the mogul slope, but was only able to collect a few points. His best result in this discipline was 19th place in December 1987 in La Plagne . At the first World Championships in Tignes , he reached 12th place in his favorite discipline.
In the winters that followed, Baumgartner was among the world's top ballet players. In the 1987/88 season he also started in the combination in which he narrowly missed the podium twice as fourth and fifth. In the ballet demonstration competition as part of the Olympic Games in Calgary he was tenth, at the World Championships in Oberjoch he did not get past 13th. After he began to focus fully on ballet, his results improved significantly. In December 1989 he got his first two podium places with the ranks two and three in Tignes and La Plagne. The World Championships in Lake Placid , he graduated with eighth place in the Olympic Games of Albertville , he finished fifth. At the world championships in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee , he just missed his first medal in fourth. In 1992/93 he came third in the World Cup discipline thanks to several podium finishes.
In December 1993, Baumgartner won his first World Cup-level competition at the age of 30 and from then on was one of the decisive athletes in the discipline. At the World Championships in La Clusaz , he won the bronze medal behind Rune Kristiansen and Fabrice Becker . In 1995/96 he secured six wins of the season, winning the discipline ranking and third place in the overall World Cup. Thereupon he was honored by BVS as Grisons Sportsman of the Year. In the following winter Baumgartner celebrated three more victories, but had to admit defeat to the French Becker in the discipline classification. At the last two world championships in Nagano and Meiringen - Hasliberg he won bronze medals again. He is the only top athlete who has participated in all major events (seven world championships and two Olympic competitions) in ski ballet. After the ballet was deleted from the World Cup calendar, his active career ended in March 2000.