Kathi Hörl

Kathi Hörl
nation	Austria
birthday	March 28, 1936
place of birth	Saalfelden , Austria
size	170 cm
Weight	62 kg
date of death	19th September 2017
Place of death	Saalfelden
Career
discipline	Slalom , giant slalom , downhill , combination
society	SK Saalfelden
End of career	1960

Kathi Hörl (born March 28, 1936 in Saalfelden ; † September 19, 2017 there ) was an Austrian ski racer . She achieved several victories and podium places in international races in the 1950s, was Austrian slalom champion in 1958 and in the same year took 25th place in giant slalom at the World Championships in Bad Gastein .

Career

Hörl started skiing at the age of 14 in the ski club in her home town of Saalfelden . In 1952 she became Austrian youth champion in downhill, slalom and combined and came to her first international assignments in the same year. She achieved her first top 10 place in an important international competition in March 1953 as ninth in the downhill run of the Arlberg-Kandahar races in St. Anton am Arlberg , followed by acceptance into the national team of the Austrian Ski Association . Initially, however, there were no major successes and after Hörl suffered a broken leg in training for the Arlberg-Kandahar races in 1954, she had to pause for the rest of the winter and most of the following season in 1954/55, which meant that she did not participate in the 1954 World Championships in Åre could participate.

In the winter of 1955/56 the then 19-year-old achieved a series of victories and podium places, even if not in the races with the strongest international races. She won the giant slalom and slalom in Alpe d'Huez as well as a downhill run in Zakopane and reached second place in the giant slalom in Saalfelden and Bad Hofgastein as well as in the slalom in Chamonix , where - as in Zakopane - she was also third in the combination. The Salzburg native was thus accepted into the team for the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo , where she was, however, only a substitute runner and never competed.

Further victories and podiums followed in the winter of 1956/57: Hörl won the slalom at the "Mont-Lachaux Trophy" in Crans-Montana and, with second place in the giant slalom and the downhill, also the combination, and also came second in the downhill from Villard -de-Lans , in three competitions on Etna (downhill, slalom and combination) and in slalom at Puerto de Navacerrada . In January she had already finished in one of the most important women's ski races at the time, the SDS races in Grindelwald , eleventh in the giant slalom, fourth in the downhill and (including 20th place in the slalom) seventh in the combination.
In the 1957/58 season there were no podium finishes in international races, only in the Abetone slalom she was among the top five. Nevertheless, thanks to the slalom title and third place in the combination at the Austrian championships, she succeeded in qualifying for the 1958 World Cup in Bad Gastein . She was used there after a "set-up poker" by the ÖSV coaches on February 8th in the giant slalom, which she finished with a fall in 25th place, with start no. 31 went into the race and drove instead of the sick Lotte Blattl . Three weeks after the World Cup was in the Austrian Championships 1958 in Bad Gastein Austrian Champion on March 1st in slalom and third in the combination.

As in the last winter, Hörl did not achieve any podium places in the next two years and only rarely placed in the top five, around 1959 with fourth place in the giant slalom and fifth in the slalom in Innsbruck . This meant that participation in the 1960 Winter Olympics was out of reach and Hörl ended her career in the summer of 1960.

Kathi Hörl died in 2017 at the age of 81.

successes

World championships

• Bad Gastein 1958 : 25th giant slalom

Victories in FIS races

• Giant slalom and slalom in L'Alpe d'Huez 1956
• Departure from Zakopane in 1956
• Slalom and combination in Crans-Montana 1957

Austrian championships

• Austrian champion in slalom 1958

literature

• Austrian Ski Association (Ed.): Austrian Ski Stars from A – Z. Ablinger & Garber, Hall in Tirol 2008, ISBN 978-3-9502285-7-1 , p. 165.
• Joachim Glaser: Goldsmiths in the Snow. 100 years of the Salzburg State Ski Association. Böhlau, Vienna-Cologne-Weimar 2011, ISBN 978-3-205-78560-6 , pp. 150–151.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kathi Hörl won medals at Austrian youth championships. ( Memento of the original from December 11, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ÖSV winner board, accessed on October 8, 2012. 
2. ↑ Surprise at the Kandahar race . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna March 14, 1953, p. 8 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
3. ^ Kandahar and ski flying . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna March 12, 1954, p. 8 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
4. ↑ Austria's ski team has not yet reached its peak - Subtitle: Kathi Hörl is also part of the Olympic team . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna January 11, 1956, p. 8 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
5. ↑ The daily victory . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna March 14, 1957, p. 10 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
6. ↑ As always: Toni Sailer wins everything . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna March 19, 1957, p. 10 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
7. ↑ Leitner undefeated in France . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna March 28, 1957, p. 10 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
8. ↑ Carla Marchelli wins the giant slalom . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna January 10, 1957, p. 10 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
9. ↑ Carla Marchelli's third victory . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna January 12, 1957, p. 10 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
10. ^ Putzi Frandl in second place . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna January 11, 1957, p. 10 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
11. ↑ The goal can be eternity - Third column below: Title: The start numbers . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 8, 1958, p. 10 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
12. ^ "The second title for Karl Schranz" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna March 2, 1958, p. 28 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
13. ↑ Obituary. Salzburger Nachrichten, September 19, 2017, accessed on October 26, 2017 .