Werner Franz

The title of this article is ambiguous. Further meanings are listed under Werner Franz (disambiguation) .

Werner Franz
Werner Franz in January 2008
nation	Austria
birthday	8th March 1972 (age 48)
place of birth	Weißbriach , Austria
size	177 cm
Weight	85 kg
Career
discipline	Downhill , Super-G , combination
society	SV Weißbriach
status	resigned
End of career	December 14, 2006
Placements in the Alpine Ski World Cup
Individual World Cup debut 1991/92  Individual world cup victories 2  Overall World Cup 9. ( 1998/99 )  Downhill World Cup 3. (1998/99)  Super G World Cup 2. ( 1999/2000 )  Combination World Cup 1. ( 1997/98 )
Podium placements 1. 2. 3.  Departure 1 7th 5  Super G 1 1 2  combination 0 1 1

Werner Franz (born March 8, 1972 in Weißbriach , Carinthia ) is a former Austrian ski racer . He was initially specialized in downhill and later also successful in combination and Super-G . In his career, which was interrupted several times by injuries, he achieved two victories and a further 17 podium places in World Cup races , one victory in the Combination World Cup , a second place in the Super G World Cup and a third place in the Downhill World Cup. At world championships he was three times in the top ten, while he never took part in the Olympic Games.

biography

Franz, whose father was a trainer in the Carinthian State Ski Association and his son's first trainer, celebrated his first major successes at national level after several victories in school races when he became Austrian youth champion in the downhill in 1990 and 1991. Internationally he drew attention to himself with the fifth downhill rank at the Junior World Championships 1990 in Zinal and with his first victory in an FIS downhill in 1991 in Pitztal . He completed an apprenticeship as a carpenter , but soon concentrated exclusively on ski racing. Franz was accepted into the squad of the Austrian Ski Association (ÖSV) in 1990 and was a member of the European Cup team from winter 1991/92 . That winter he won four European Cup downhill runs, which meant he won the downhill classification and came third in the European Cup. In the same winter he also made his first appearances in the World Cup and won his first World Cup points on March 14, 1992 with 20th place in the downhill from Aspen .

After scoring two more times in the World Cup in the winter of 1992/93, Franz caused a sensation at the beginning of the 1993/94 World Cup season when he surprisingly achieved second place in the downhill run on the Saslong in Val Gardena (although he went to the Winter Olympics Taken in 1994 in Lillehammer , but not nominated for the downhill competition). In the winter of 1994/95 , he first drove two more times in the top ten and finally came second on the Lauberhorn downhill run in Wengen again on the podium. After a somewhat weaker 1995/96 season, impaired by injuries, Franz managed to rise to the top of the world in winter 1996/97 . He was on the podium in four downhill runs and a combination, finished six times in the top ten and finished fourth in the Downhill World Cup, fifth in the Combined World Cup and tenth place in the overall World Cup. Franz also managed to qualify for participation in a major event for the first time within the Austrian team, but did not finish in the downhill of the 1997 World Cup in Sestriere .

In the winter of 1997/98 , Franz was able to maintain the form of the previous year (two podium places in the downhill runs from Bormio, top 10 results in the Super-G for the first time), but from January he fell a little behind, which is why he was not from the ÖSV for the Olympic 1998 Winter Games was nominated. In return, he won the Combination World Cup, thanks to a second place in the Hahnenkamm Combination of Kitzbühel. In the 1998/99 season Franz was able to improve again. He was on the podium in four downhill runs (twice each in Val Gardena and Kitzbühel), finished eight more times in the top ten, came third in the Downhill and Combined World Cups and ninth in the overall World Cup. A hoped-for medal at the 1999 World Championships in Vail / Beaver Creek did not materialize, however, and he finished the World Cup downhill in sixth position. He contributed ninth place to the nine-time victory of the ÖSV ski team on the Patscherkofel.

After a coach change in the ÖSV, the downhill was no longer the downhill, but the Super-G Franz 'strongest discipline. For the first time he was on the podium in a Super-G in Kitzbühel on January 21, 2000, before he celebrated his first World Cup victory on February 13, 2000 in the Super-G in St. Anton am Arlberg , after having won a total of nine times Was second. He finished the 1999/2000 season behind Hermann Maier in second place in the Super G World Cup, and in the overall World Cup he was among the top ten for the third and last time. The 2000/01 season was a little less successful, Franz only made it onto the podium in one Super G, finished fifth in the Super G World Cup and, as in the previous year, eighth in the Downhill World Cup. At the 2001 World Cup in St. Anton, he was sixth in the Super-G and eighth in the downhill.

In October 2001 Franz suffered serious injuries in his right knee during the pre-season season in Sölden , which is why he had to take a break for the entire 2001/02 season. In the comeback winter of 2002/03 he was among the top ten three times, with his best result being fifth in the downhill from Val Gardena. The next winter he had to quit early again due to injury, as he broke his right shoulder blade on January 14, 2004 when he fell while training on the new Franz Klammer course in Bad Kleinkirchheim . The new comeback in the 2004/05 season was very successful. That winter he only drove downhill and surprisingly celebrated his second World Cup victory on December 11, 2004 in Val-d'Isère . With another three top 10 results, he finished seventh in the Downhill World Cup. At the 2005 World Cup in Bormio , however, he only came in 28th in the downhill. A fall during summer training in 2005 in Portillo , Chile , brought Franz another long forced break. He suffered serious injuries in his right leg and was sidelined for the entire 2005/06 season. He tried a new comeback in the 2006/07 season , but could not catch up with the top. Franz finished the first downhill run of the season in Lake Louise - his last World Cup race - in 33rd place and three weeks later, on December 14, 2006, gave u. zw. in Val Gardena , known his retirement from ski racing.

Franz completed his trainer training and has been a men's trainer in the Carinthian Ski Association since 2010. His cousin Max Franz also became a ski racer.

successes

World championships

• Vail 1999 : 6th departure
• St. Anton 2001 : 6th Super-G, 8th downhill
• Bormio 2005 : 28th departure

World Cup ratings

Werner Franz won the discipline classification once in the combination.

season	total		Departure		Super G		combination
	space	Points	space	Points	space	Points	space	Points
1992/93	124.	12	48.	12	-	-	-	-
1993/94	64.	96	24.	96	-	-	-	-
1994/95	42.	192	13.	192	-	-	-	-
1995/96	46.	166	15th	166	-	-	-	-
1996/97	10.	660	4th	517	24.	54	5.	89
1997/98	15th	504	10.	288	17th	84	1.	120
1998/99	9.	614	3.	427	15th	87	3.	100
1999/00	10.	762	8th.	317	2.	371	7th	74
2000/01	16.	418	8th.	236	5.	182	-	-
2001/02	No results due to injury
2002/03	33.	273	17th	212	21st	61	-	-
2003/04	111.	18th	45.	18th	-	-	-	-
2004/05	33.	254	7th	254	-	-	-	-

World Cup victories

Franz achieved 19 podium places, including 2 victories:

date	place	country	discipline
February 13, 2000	St. Anton	Austria	Super G
December 11, 2004	Val d'Isère	France	Departure

European Cup

• 1991/92 season : 3rd overall ranking, 1st downhill ranking
• 6 podium places, including 4 wins

Junior World Championships

• Zinal 1990 : 5th departure

literature

• Austrian Ski Association (Ed.): Austrian Ski Stars from A – Z. Ablinger & Garber, Hall in Tirol 2008, ISBN 978-3-9502285-7-1 , pp. 81-82.

Web links

Commons : Werner Franz  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Werner Franz in the database of the International Ski Federation (English)
• Werner Franz in the database of Ski-DB (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Werner Franz is the new men's boss at the Carinthian Ski Association. Laola1.at via relevant.at, May 18, 2010, accessed on August 5, 2012.
2. ↑ Alpine section. ( Memento of the original from September 26, 2010 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. State Ski Association of Carinthia, last accessed on August 5, 2012.