Walter Schuster (ski racer)

Walter Schuster
nation	Austria
birthday	June 2, 1929
place of birth	Lermoos , Austria
job	Bricklayer
date of death	January 13, 2018
Career
discipline	Slalom , giant slalom , downhill , combination
society	SC Lermoos
End of career	1957
Medal table
Olympic games 0 × 0 × 1 × World championships 0 × 0 × 1 ×
winter Olympics bronze Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 Giant slalom  Alpine World Ski Championships bronze Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 Giant slalom

Walter Schuster (born June 2, 1929 in Lermoos ; † January 13, 2018 ) was an Austrian ski racer . He celebrated numerous victories in international races in the late 1940s and 1950s, was two-time Austrian champion and won the bronze medal in the giant slalom at the 1956 Winter Olympics .

Career

Schuster started skiing at an early age. After the end of the Second World War he was one of Austria's greatest young talents, was Austrian junior downhill champion in 1948 and won this title in slalom and combined a year later. In 1949 the trained bricklayer celebrated his first victories in the general class in the giant slalom in Wildschönau and in the Seegrube .

With two third places in slalom and in the combination as well as fourth place in the downhill from Lech , the Tyrolean qualified for the 1950 World Cup in Aspen , but suffered a thigh fracture during the last training for the World Cup downhill and had to end the season. The next winter he still suffered from the consequences of the serious injury and did not contest any races, but completed his training as a state-certified ski instructor during his compulsory break.

In the 1951/52 season Schuster returned to racing and already achieved several podium places, including in the downhill runs from Chamonix and the Gamperney Derby in Grabs , in the slalom from Schruns and in the giant slalom from St. Anton . In the winter of 1952/53 he rose to the top of the world. He celebrated a total of eleven victories, including the slalom and the giant slalom in Garmisch-Partenkirchen , a slalom in Seefeld and the giant slalom on the Zugspitze . At the Hahnenkamm races in Kitzbühel he finished second in slalom and combined as well as fourth in downhill, at the Arlberg-Kandahar races in St. Anton he took two third places in slalom and combined.

The next season began Schuster with two wins in downhill and combination of Schruns and he was second in each Lauberhorn slalom of Wengen and in the Hahnenkamm downhill of Kitzbühel. For the 1954 World Cup in Åre , he was therefore considered a great medal contender, but had a hard fall in training, suffered a broken rib and again missed a major event. This time, however, the injury was far less serious than four years ago and towards the end of the season the Tyrolean won his next victory in the slalom in Vall de Núria .

Schuster also celebrated several victories in the 1954/55 season. He won the downhill and the combined at the Arlberg-Kandahar races in Mürren , the combined from Chamonix, the slalom from Zakopane and the downhill from Cervinia . He achieved further podium places, for example, in the downhill and combination of the Hahnenkamm races and in the giant slalom of the 3-tre races . In the winter of 1955/56, the Tyrolean only won the Seefeld slalom, but mainly focused on participating in the season's highlight. This time he was spared the bad luck with injuries and was able to take part in a major title fight for the first time at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy . In the giant slalom he won the bronze medal behind his compatriots Toni Sailer and Anderl Molterer , but he dropped out in the downhill.

In the winter of 1956/57 Schuster did not reach any top positions and he ended his active career after the season at the age of 27. He stayed in skiing for the time being as a trainer of the ÖSV women's team (together with Christian Pravda ) from mid-January 1958 and later through his work as a ski instructor.

successes

winter Olympics

• Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 : 3rd giant slalom

World championships

• Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 : 3rd giant slalom

Austrian championships

• Austrian national champion in downhill and giant slalom 1953
• Austrian junior champion in 1948 downhill, slalom and combined 1949

Awards

• 2nd place in the "Sportsman of the Year 1955" poll carried out by the Austrian sports journalists in mid-January 1956
• Medal of Merit of the State of Tyrol

literature

• Austrian Ski Association (Ed.): Austrian Ski Stars from A – Z , Innsbruck 2008, ISBN 978-3-9502285-7-1 , p. 403

Web links

• Walter Schuster in the database of the International Ski Association (English)
• Walter Schuster in the database of Ski-DB (English)
• Walter Schuster in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Pravda and Schuster coach of the women's team . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna January 18, 1958, p. 10 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
2. ↑ Hanappi and Eigel - Sportsman of the Year . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna January 18, 1956, p. 8 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
3. ↑ Obituary notice on the Tiroler Tageszeitung online on January 15, 2018