Ulrike Maier

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Ulrike Maier
— Alpine skier —
File:Ulli-Maier Grave Rauris.jpg
Maier's grave in Rauris, Austria
Disciplines Downhill, Super G,
Giant slalom, Slalom,
Combined
Club USC Rauris
Born (1967-10-22)22 October 1967
Rauris, Salzburg, Austria
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Murnau, Bavaria, Germany
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World Cup debut 9 December 1984 (age 17)
Olympics
Teams 2 - (1988, 1992)
World Championships
Teams 3 - (1989, 1991, 1993)
Medals 3 (2 gold)
World Cup
Seasons 9 - (1985–89, '91–94)
Wins 5 - (2 SG, 3 GS)
Podiums 21
Overall titles 0 - (5th in 1993)
Discipline titles 0 - (2nd in SG, 1993)
Medal record
Women’s alpine skiing
Representing  Austria
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1989 Vail Super G
Gold medal – first place 1991 Saalbach Super G
Silver medal – second place 1991 Saalbach Giant Slalom

Ulrike Maier (22 October 1967 – 29 January 1994) was a World Cup alpine ski racer from Austria, a two-time World Champion in Super-G.

Born in Rauris, Salzburg, where her father ran a ski school, Maier won the Super-G gold medal at the World Championships in both 1989 and 1991.[1] She also took home the giant slalom silver medal in the 1991 event. Her first of five World Cup wins came in November 1992 and she had 21 podiums 59 top ten finishes in her World Cup career.

Accident

Two weeks prior to the 1994 Winter Olympics, the women's World Cup was in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, in late January. The downhill on the classic Kandahar course at Garmisch Classic was held on Saturday, January 29, following an overnight snowfall. In a narrow part of the lower course less than twenty seconds from the finish, Maier's right ski caught an inside edge at 105 km/h (65 mph), possibly from a patch of soft snow, and caused a violent crash which broke her neck.[2] She died of her injuries shortly after being evacuated to the hospital in nearby Murnau.[3] At age 26, she had thought to retire at the end of the 1994 season, due to a small performance decay that caused her not to perform well both in 1992 Albertville Olympic Games and in 1993 Morioka Shizukuishi World Championships.[4] However, she had bounced back from that crisis winning two GS in 1994 season and claiming podium in the two Super G of Cortina. Following these results, she was reconsidering her decision in the days before the fateful downhill run, planning to continue until the 1995 World Championships in Spain.[citation needed]

Unlike most other fatal skiing accidents, her crash happened during a live television broadcast. Maier was survived by her daughter Melanie (b. 1989)[1] and was buried in her home village of Rauris, where thousands attended her funeral.[5] Teammate and close friend Anita Wachter wore Maier's world championship medals in the procession.[6]

Initially it was claimed that her death was caused by hitting a wooden timing post.[7] Based on that claim, Maier's fiancé Hubert Schweighhofer criticized the organizers of the race and filed suit against them.[8] However, several months later the court found that Maier actually did not hit the timing post with her head, but probably broke her neck by crashing into a pile of snow on the border of the race course.[9] The court did not find any negligence from the organizers and dismissed the suit. Manslaughter charges against two FIS race officials were dropped after a settlement was reached in 1996.[10]

World Cup results

Season standings

Season Age Overall Slalom Giant
Slalom		 Super G Downhill Combined
1985 17 62 29 — — — 30
1986 18 77 33 — — — —
1987 19 35 19 32 — — —
1988 20 8 10 9 6 — 10
1989 21 7 13 4 4 — 2
1990 22
1991 23 30 — 9 26 — —
1992 24 13 33 6 4 36 —
1993 25 5 32 4 2 45 14
1994 26 7 33 4 7 46 11

Race podiums

  • 5 wins: (2 SG, 3 GS)
  • 21 podiums: (8 SG, 10 GS, 1 SL, 1 PS, 1 K)
Season Date Location Discipline Place
1988 30 Nov 1987 Italy Courmayeur, Italy Slalom 3rd
7 Mar 1988 United States Aspen, USA Giant Slalom 3rd
13 Mar 1988 Canada Rossland, Canada Super G 2nd
23 Mar 1988 Austria Saalbach, Austria Giant Slalom 3rd
27 Mar 1988 Parallel Slalom[11] 2nd
1989 26 Nov 1988 Austria Schladming, Austria Super G 2nd
28 Nov 1988 France Les Menuires, France Giant Slalom 3rd
16 Dec 1988 Austria Altenmarkt, Austria Combined 2nd
6 Jan 1989 Austria Schwarzenberg, Austria Giant Slalom 2nd
7 Jan 1989 Giant Slalom 2nd
1991 22 Mar 1991 United States Waterville Valley, USA Giant Slalom 2nd
1992 26 Jan 1992 France Morzine, France Super G 2nd
1993 28 Nov 1992 United States Park City, USA Giant Slalom 1st
13 Dec 1992 United States Vail, USA Super G 1st
16 Jan 1993 Italy Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy Super G 1st
20 Mar 1993 Sweden Åre, Sweden Super G 2nd
1994 26 Nov 1993 Italy Santa Caterina, Italy Giant Slalom 3rd
27 Nov 1993 Giant Slalom 1st
15 Jan 1994 Italy Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy Super G 2nd
17 Jan 1994 Super G 3rd
21 Jan 1994 Slovenia Maribor, Slovenia Giant Slalom 1st

References

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  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ [1]. International Herald Tribune 25 November 1994.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links


Awards
Preceded by Austrian Sportswoman of the year
1989		 Succeeded by
Austria Petra Kronberger
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