Stephan Keppler

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Stephan Keppler Alpine skiing
nation GermanyGermany Germany
birthday 1st February 1983 (age 37)
place of birth Innsbruck , Austria
size 183 cm
Weight 93 kg
Career
discipline Downhill , Super-G , combination
society WSV Ebingen
status resigned
End of career May 2014
Placements in the Alpine Ski World Cup
 Individual World Cup debut February 22, 2003
 Overall World Cup 51st ( 2010/11 )
 Downhill World Cup 29th ( 2011/12 )
 Super G World Cup 20th (2010/11)
 Combination World Cup 43rd ( 2009/10 )
 Podium placements 1. 2. 3.
 Super G 0 1 0
 team 1 0 0
 

Stephan Keppler (born February 1, 1983 in Innsbruck , Austria ) is a former German ski racer . He is a four-time German champion and achieved a podium in the World Cup . His strengths lay in the fast downhill and super-G disciplines .

biography

Keppler grew up in Albstadt ( Zollernalbkreis , Baden-Württemberg ) on the Swabian Alb . After completing his school education, he joined the German Armed Forces , of which he is a sports soldier in a sports promotion group. He competed in the first FIS races in December 1998 and started in the European Cup in January 2001. In 1999, Keppler became German junior champion in slalom and in 2003 German youth champion in giant slalom and super-G.

In February 2003, Keppler made his debut in the World Cup in Garmisch-Partenkirchen . Initially his starts were sporadic and he was still behind the international field. After Max Rauffer and Florian Eckert's resignation due to injury from the already weak men's team of the German Ski Association before the start of the 2005/06 season, he moved up to the rank of top German rider together with his teammate Johannes Stehle , although still not very competitive internationally . Finally, in January 2006, at the Kandahar downhill run in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, he scored his first World Cup points with 21st place. In 2006 he was also German champion in downhill and super-G and in 2007 again German champion in super-G.

With two eighth places in the downhill in Lake Louise on November 25, 2006 and the Super-G in Val Gardena on December 15, 2006, he qualified for the 2007 World Cup in Åre . His only result there was 37th in the Super-G. In the downhill and in the giant slalom, he did not finish. The World Cup results of the 2006/07 season could not be repeated by Keppler. Placement in the top 20 remained the exception for the next three years. At the 2009 World Championships in Val-d'Isère , however, he achieved 15th place in the downhill and 20th place in the super combined and 24th place in the super G. At the 2010 Winter Olympics , he was 24th in the downhill and in the super combined. He dropped out in the Super-G.

In December 2010 , Stephan Keppler again achieved several top 10 placements in the World Cup - his first in four years. He celebrated the greatest success of his career on December 17th, 2010 in Val Gardena: In the Super-G on the traditional Saslong slope , he surprisingly finished second behind Michael Walchhofer . A month later, Keppler had a hard fall on the Lauberhorn run in Wengen . He suffered a rupture of the medial ligament in his right knee and a rupture of the syndesmotic ligament in his left ankle. Although the early end of the season was feared, Keppler took part in World Cup races again two months later. At the season finale in Lenzerheide on March 20, 2011, he won the team competition in the German team ahead of Italy and Austria, which is only part of the Nations Cup . In the 2011/12 season, Keppler achieved two top 10 placements (sixth in the Super-G from Val Gardena and eighth in the Hahnenkamm downhill run from Kitzbühel ). In the two following winters, an eleventh place on the downhill in Bormio on December 29, 2012 was his best World Cup placement.

In the spring of 2013, Keppler was no longer accepted into the roster of the German Ski Association , which is why he had to prepare for the 2013/14 season at his own expense. He missed the desired qualification for the Olympic Games. On May 1, 2014, he finally announced his resignation.

successes

winter Olympics

World championships

World cup

  • 7 placements among the top ten in individual races, including 1 podium
  • 1 win in team competitions

European Cup

date place country discipline
February 1, 2006 Veysonnaz Switzerland Departure
January 10, 2009 Wengen Switzerland Departure

More Achievements

  • Four times German champion : Downhill 2006; Super-G 2006, 2007 and Super-Combination 2010
  • German junior champion in slalom 1999
  • German youth champion in giant slalom and Super-G 2003
  • 3 victories in FIS races

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b off season for Stephan Keppler . German Ski Association , January 16, 2011, accessed on January 17, 2011
  2. Stephan Keppler announced the end of his career. skionline.ch, May 1, 2014, accessed on May 2, 2014 .