Hellmut Lantschner

Heli Lantschner
nation	Austria German Empire
birthday	November 11, 1909
place of birth	Igls ,  Austrian Empire
date of death	4th July 1993
Place of death	Lans , Austria
Career
discipline	Alpine skiing, ski jumping, Nordic combined skiing
society	Innsbruck Skiers Association
End of career	1951
Medal table
World championships 1 × 0 × 3 ×
Alpine World Ski Championships bronze Engelberg 1938 Departure bronze Engelberg 1938 slalom bronze Engelberg 1938 combination gold Zakopane 1939 Departure

Hellmut "Heli" Lantschner (born November 11, 1909 in Igls , † July 4, 1993 in Lans ) was an Austrian and German Alpine and Nordic skier . He started his career for both the ÖSV and the DSV and was crowned world champion in downhill skiing at the 1939 World Championships in Zakopane .

life and career

Hellmut Lantschner and his sister Grete came from the Igler branch of the famous Lantschner ski family, which shaped alpine skiing in the late 1920s and 1930s. He competed in his first race at the age of seven and developed into a complete skier during his career. After graduating from high school , he began studying medicine , which he later gave up in favor of his successful sports career. In 1929 he celebrated his first successes with second place in the Parsenn derby and third place in the Davos slalom . A year later he failed as a two-time fourth just to win a medal in the alpine competitions at the then Academic World Championships.

In his early years he put his main focus on the Nordic competitions and in 1930 he won the ski jumping and Nordic combined at the Austrian championships in Kitzbühel. In 1931 he celebrated his first significant success in a slalom with the victory on the Zugspitze plateau and took good places in the Austrian championships the following year. He had to skip the 1933 home world championship in Innsbruck due to an injury. After a one-year break, he did not return to the ski slopes and ski jumps until the winter of 1934 , but had to interrupt his career again. Because of his open political activities in the context of the February unrest in Austria, he was threatened with arrest, which he could only escape by fleeing to Germany. In the same winter, Heli Lantschner switched from the Austrian to the German ski association and became German champion in the alpine combination in Berchtesgaden .

Hellmut Lantschner was considered the best four-man combiner in the 30s (early mixed form of alpine and Nordic combination , which included jumping , cross-country skiing as well as downhill and slalom ), but came at major events due to his career and other factors such as his Ski instructor activity (Olympic Games 1936) or the boycott of the Alpine World Ski Championships in 1936 by the DSV only rarely used. In 1937, now at the age of 27, he started the season relatively late due to injury and thus again missed a place in the world championship, but in March he won the downhill and combined races at the strong races on Feldberg . From then on, Lantschner concentrated more and more on the alpine competitions, winning the Swiss championship in downhill and slalom in Wengen in 1938 as well as the title of Swiss ski champion in the combination of four. He also won all three alpine competitions at the German ski championships (for the first time titles were also awarded in downhill and slalom). He also achieved two victories in downhill and slalom in Arosa, Switzerland and won all alpine competitions in Engelberg . At the 1938 World Championships , which was also held in Engelberg, he was, to his own surprise, without a win, but achieved third place in downhill, slalom and alpine combined. His great moment came a year later at the Alpine World Ski Championships in 1939 in Zakopane , Poland , where he was crowned world champion in the downhill ahead of Pepi Jennewein and Karl Molitor . In the same year he also celebrated a victory in slalom at the French championships in Luchon and also won the slalom at the Tschammer Cup in St. Anton am Arlberg .

During the winter sports week in Garmisch and the Greater German Championships in St. Anton, Lantschner was in the shadow of the young guard around Pepi Jennewein and Willi Walch in 1940 . Nevertheless, he still achieved a few top positions and won a slalom on the Zugspitze in the winter of 1940/41, when the races were less due to the war events. In Cortina d'Ampezzo , Italy , he achieved good placings at the World Championships, which were later no longer recognized by the FIS, and after a long time also competed in a Nordic combined, which he finished with an impressive eleventh place.

Due to the course of the war, no more competitions were held in the following years. After the Second World War , Heli Lantschner returned to Austria and took on Austrian citizenship again. In 1948, at the age of 38, he sensationally won the downhill run on the Kitzbüheler Streif and, with third place in the slalom on the Ganslernhang, also won the Hahnenkamm combination . In the same year he won the newly introduced giant slalom in Seefeld and on Lake Zurich and was Austrian champion in the downhill. In the 1948/49 season he achieved his best result in a Kandahar race with a third place in the slalom in St. Anton. At the age of forty, Hellmut Lantschner had another great sense of achievement with three victories in Badgastein (slalom, giant slalom, alpine combination). He celebrated his last significant success after a career of almost a quarter of a century when he won the slalom in Bad Wiessee in 1950. In the following year he contested his last race and achieved his last podium in the slalom in Lech am Arlberg.

After his active career, Hellmut Lantschner, now married and father of two daughters, worked as a trainer and wrote several books about his life, his career and the technical developments and changes in alpine skiing. In total, the Tyrolean won one gold and three bronze medals at world championships and 30 alpine and 7 Nordic FIS competitions. In addition, he secured 13 second places in alpine and 2 second places in Nordic, as well as 18 third places in alpine and 8 third places in Nordic ski competitions. Heli Lantschner died as one of the most successful Austrian and German skiers on July 4th, 1993 in Lans.

Sporting successes

World championships

• Englberg 1938 : 3rd descent, 3rd slalom, 3rd Alpine combination
• Zakopane 1939 : 1st descent, 5th slalom, 5th Alpine combination

National championships

Austrian Championships:

• Austrian champion in ski jumping and Nordic combined in 1930
• Austrian champion in the 1948 Downhill

German championships:

• German champion in Alpine Combination 1934
• German champion in downhill, slalom and alpine combination in 1938

Swiss championships:

• Swiss ski champion in the combination of four in 1938
• Swiss champion in downhill and slalom 1938

Wins in FIS competitions

• Downhill and ski jumping in Gurgl 1930
• Ski jumping in Adelboden 1930
• Ski jumping in Partenkirchen, 1931
• Slalom on the Zugspitze in 1931
• Nordic combined in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1932
• Downhill and Nordic combined in Feldberg in 1934
• Downhill and Alpine Combination in Feldberg in 1937
• Downhill, slalom and alpine combination in Engelberg 1938
• Slalom and Alpine Combination in Arosa 1938
• Departure from Sestriere in 1938
• Slalom and Alpine Combination in Megève 1939
• Slalom in Luchon 1939 (French championships)
• Slalom in St. Anton 1939 (Tschammer-Pokal)
• Slalom and Alpine Combination in Zell am See 1940
• Slalom on the Zugspitze in 1941
• Descent and combination in Kitzbühel 1948
• Giant slalom in Seefeld in Tirol 1948
• Giant slalom on Lake Zürs in 1948
• Slalom, giant slalom and combination in Bad Gastein 1950
• Slalom in Bad Wiessee 1950

literature

• Austrian Ski Association (Ed.): Austrian Ski Stars from A – Z. Ablinger & Garber, Hall in Tirol 2008, ISBN 978-3-9502285-7-1 , pp. 229-230.

Web links

• Hellmut Lantschner in the database of the International Ski Association (English)
• Hellmut Lantschner in the database of Ski-DB (English)