Hilde Hofherr

Hilde Hofherr
nation	Austria
birthday	23rd April 1930 (age 90)
place of birth	Lermoos , Austria
size	168 cm
Weight	60 kg
Career
discipline	Slalom , giant slalom , downhill , combination
society	SC Lermoos
status	resigned
End of career	1960

Hilde Hofherr , married blacksmith , (born April 23, 1930 in Lermoos ) is a former Austrian ski racer . From the mid-1950s onwards she celebrated numerous victories in international races, was three times Austrian champion and was placed in the top five twice at the Winter Olympics .

biography

Hofherr's father was a shoemaker and farmer in Lermoos and an active skier himself. Hilde Hofherr also began skiing at an early age, but initially did not practice it as a race because of the Second World War . It was not until 1947 that the then commercial student came to the ski club in her home town, where she began regular training. In the early 1950s she was promoted to the team of the Austrian Ski Association through the Tyrolean national team . In 1952 she was second on the downhill run for the Golden Shield from Wallberg in Rottach-Egern for the first time on the podium in an international FIS race , followed by third place in the giant slalom on the Zugspitze in 1953 .

Hofherr's breakthrough came in the 1954/1955 season, when she celebrated her first victories with downhill, slalom and combination from Rottach-Egern, followed by two more victories in downhill and combination of the prestigious Arlberg-Kandahar races in Mürren . In the same winter she also won a giant slalom in Arosa and a slalom on Mount Etna . In the next 1955/1956 season, Hofherr won the giant slaloms in Rottach-Egern and on Lake Zürs , and she also came second in the downhill run of the Gornergrat derby in Zermatt . The 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo started for Hofherr only with 24th place in the slalom because of a fall. Two days later she came fourth in the downhill as the best Austrian, at the same time as the Italian Giuliana Chenal Minuzzo .

In the winter of 1956/1957 Hofherr won downhill, slalom and combination of Tatranská Lomnica , slalom and combination of Oberstdorf and a giant slalom on the Großglockner . She came second in the giant slalom of the SDS races in Grindelwald and in the downhill run of the Hahnenkamm races in Kitzbühel , while she finished third in the downhill run of the Arlberg-Kandahar races in Chamonix . She also won her first two championship titles in downhill and giant slalom at the Austrian championships in Schruns in 1957 . In the 1957/1958 season, Hofherr again achieved two victories in the most important races of the winter: At the Grindelwald SDS races she was first in the combination and second in the downhill as well as in the second giant slalom and at the Hahnenkamm races in Kitzbühel Downhill, while she took second place in giant slalom and combined. Furthermore, she achieved, among other things, a victory in the Lenzerheide slalom . At the 1958 World Cup in Bad Gastein , however, Hofherr was not very successful. She only achieved an acceptable result in the slalom in sixth place and fell in the giant slalom and downhill, where she was eliminated in the giant slalom, but was able to finish the downhill in 39th place.

Hofherr also achieved several victories in the winter of 1958/1959. She won again in the races for the Golden Shield from Wallberg, this time in the downhill, and won a total of five giant slaloms on Lake Zürser, on the Zugspitze, on Etna, on the Grossglockner and in Courchevel , where she also won the slalom. The winter of 1959/1960 began less successfully, in which she initially owed top placements, but won the giant slalom title for the second time at the Austrian Championships in Saalfelden . At the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley , their last major international event, however, they again missed the medal ranks as fifth in the slalom and ninth in the giant slalom. Hofherr celebrated her last victory in the summer of 1960 in a giant slalom on the Stilfserjoch , before ending her career at the age of 30.

During her active time, Hofherr was employed in the export department of her ski company Kästle from 1955 to 1960 , after which she worked for three years in the Lermoos Tourist Office. In 1963 she married Willi Schmied, an employee of the ski company Blizzard , to whom she moved to Mittersill . From 1970 she lived in Italy for three years, where her husband was involved in setting up the Spalding ski factory; In 1973 he returned to Lermoos. Even after her active career, Hilde Hofherr-Schmied remained closely associated with ski racing. From the mid-1960s, she was technical delegate of the International Ski Federation FIS for more than two decades and a jury member at numerous races, including the 1980 and 1984 Winter Olympics .

successes

winter Olympics

(also counted as world championships)

• Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 : 4th descent, 24th slalom
• Squaw Valley 1960 : 5th slalom, 9th giant slalom

World championships

• Bad Gastein 1958 : 6th slalom, 39th descent

Victories in FIS races

• Downhill, slalom and combination of the Golden Shield from Wallberg in Rottach-Egern 1955
• Downhill and combination of the Arlberg-Kandahar races in Mürren 1955
• Giant slalom in Arosa 1955
• Slalom on Etna in 1955
• Giant slalom of the Golden Shield from Wallberg in Rottach-Egern 1956
• Giant slalom on Lake Zurich in 1956
• Downhill, slalom and combined in Tatranská Lomnica 1957
• Slalom and combination in Oberstdorf 1957
• Giant slalom on the Grossglockner in 1957
• Combination of the SDS races in Grindelwald 1958
• Departure of the Hahnenkamm races in Kitzbühel in 1958
• Slalom in Lenzerheide 1958
• Combination of the Grand Prix of Savoy 1958
• Giant slalom in Hochsölden 1958
• Departure of the Golden Shield from Wallberg in Rottach-Egern 1959
• Giant slalom on the Zugspitze in 1959
• Giant slalom on Etna in 1959
• Giant slalom and slalom in Courchevel 1959
• Giant slalom on Lake Zurich in 1959
• Giant slalom on the Grossglockner in 1959
• Giant slalom on the Stilfserjoch in 1960

Austrian championships

Triple Austrian Champion :

• Giant slalom 1957 and 1960
• Departure 1957

literature

• Austrian Ski Association (Ed.): Austrian Ski Stars from A – Z. Ablinger & Garber, Hall in Tirol 2008, ISBN 978-3-9502285-7-1 , pp. 157-158.
• Hilde Hofherr: Top athlete with a social streak. In: Austrian Ski Association (Hrsg.): Ski Austria Lady. No. 13, December 2010, p. 6.

Web links

• Hilde Hofherr in the database of the International Ski Association (English)
• Hilde Hofherr in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original ) (There the date of birth is April 20th, but April 23rd is consistently mentioned in the ÖSV publications.)