Hanni Wenzel

Hannelore (Hanni) Wenzel[1] (born 14 December 1956) is a former alpine ski racer from Liechtenstein, an Olympic, World Cup, and world champion. She won the country's first Olympic medal at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria.[2][3][4]

Hanni Wenzel
Alpine skier
DisciplinesGiant Slalom, Slalom,
Combined, Downhill,
Super G
Born (1956-12-14) 14 December 1956
Straubing, Bavaria,
West Germany
Height1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
World Cup debut1 March 1972 (age 15)
RetiredMarch 1984 (age 27)
Websitewwp-group.com
Olympics
Teams2 – (1976, 1980)
Medals4 (2 gold)
World Championships
Teams5 – (1974–82)
includes two Olympics
Medals9 (4 gold)
World Cup
Seasons13 – (1972–84)
Wins33
Podiums89
Overall titles2 – (1978, 1980)
Discipline titles5 – (2 GS, 1 SL, 2 K)
Medal record
Women's alpine skiing
Representing  Liechtenstein
Olympic Games
1980 Lake Placid Giant Slalom
1980 Lake Placid Slalom
1980 Lake Placid Downhill
1976 Innsbruck Slalom
World Championships
1974 St. Moritz Slalom
1980 Lake Placid Combined
1974 St. Moritz Combined
1978 Garmisch Combined
1976 Innsbruck Combined

Born in West Germany at Straubing, Bavaria, Wenzel moved to Liechtenstein at an early age. After she and her younger brother Andreas had success in ski racing – Hanni won the gold medal in slalom and silver in the combined at the 1974 World Championships – the family was granted Liechtenstein citizenship. Winning the slalom title on 8 February 1974, she did become the youngest female Alpine Skiing World Champion in the Slalom discipline (17 years, 1 month, 25 days) - ousting Esme Mackinnon who was the first female Alpine Skiing Champion in 1931; the British racer was 17 years, 2 month and 17 days young when she was victorious in the slalom race on 19 February 1931. At the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, she won the country's first Olympic medal, a bronze in the slalom at Axamer Lizum, and also picked up another world championship medal in the combined.

After winning the World Cup overall title in 1978, Wenzel's best year came in 1980. At the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, she won gold medals in the slalom and giant slalom, and just missed out on a sweep by taking the silver in the downhill at Whiteface Mountain. She also easily won the world championship gold medal in the combined event, its final edition as a "paper race" and her fourth world championship medal in that event. At the same Olympics, her brother also won a silver medal, placing Liechtenstein high in the medal ranking of the games. In addition to her Olympic success, she won nine World Cup races in 1980 and captured the overall, giant slalom, and combined season titles, and brother Andreas won the men's overall for a Wenzel family sweep of the overall titles. Her daughter Tina Weirather won a bronze medal in Super-G for Liechtenstein at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.

Wenzel was banned from the 1984 Winter Olympics by the International Ski Federation (FIS) for accepting promotional payments directly, rather than through the national ski federation. Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden was also banned; both were double gold medalists in 1980.[5][6][7]

Wenzel retired following the 1984 season with two Olympic titles, four World titles, two overall World Cups, three discipline World Cups plus three combined titles, and 33 World Cup victories. (Through 1980, the Olympics were also the World Championships.)

Through the 2018 Winter Olympics, Liechtenstein has won a total of ten medals at the Winter Olympics, with eight won by two sets of siblings – the Wenzels earned six, while brothers Willi and Paul Frommelt are responsible for two more.

World cup results

Season titles

7 titles – (2 overall, 2 giant slalom, 1 slalom, 2 combined)

SeasonDiscipline
1974Giant Slalom
1978Overall
Slalom
1980Overall
Giant Slalom
Combined
1983Combined

Season standings
SeasonAgeOverallSlalomGiant
Slalom		Super GDownhillCombined
19721540—27not
run 		—not
awarded
19731656318
19741734116
19751822512
1976199913166
19772055811not
awarded
19782111215
19792225210
19802312131
19812436392
19822519914——
198326245not
awarded 		—1
19842727534

Race victories
  • 33 wins – (11 SL, 12 GS, 2 DH, 8 K)
  • 89 podiums
SeasonDateLocationDiscipline
197419 Dec 1973 Zell am See, AustriaGiant Slalom
197521 Feb 1975 Naeba, JapanSlalom
14 Mar 1975 Sun Valley, USASlalom
197719 Jan 1977 Schruns, AustriaCombined
197815 Dec 1977 Madonna di Campiglio, ItalyGiant Slalom
10 Jan 1978   Les Mosses, SwitzerlandGiant Slalom
22 Jan 1978 Maribor, YugoslaviaSlalom
24 Jan 1978 Berchtesgaden, West GermanySlalom
25 Jan 1978Slalom
2 Mar 1978 Stratton Mountain, USAGiant Slalom
197912 Dec 1978 Piancavallo, ItalyGiant Slalom
3 Feb 1979 Pfronten, West GermanySlalom
4 Feb 1979Combined
8 Feb 1979 Maribor, YugoslaviaSlalom
19808 Dec 1979 Limone Piemonte, ItalyGiant Slalom
14 Dec 1979Combined
10 Jan 1980 Berchtesgaden, West GermanyGiant Slalom
16 Jan 1980   Arosa, SwitzerlandGiant Slalom
21 Jan 1980 Bad Gastein, AustriaSlalom
Combined
23 Jan 1980 Maribor, YugoslaviaSlalom
26 Jan 1980 Saint-Gervais, FranceGiant Slalom
1980 Winter Olympics
25 Feb 1980 Waterville Valley, USAGiant Slalom
198127 Jan 1981 Les Gets, FranceCombined
8 Feb 1981 Zwiesel, West GermanyCombined
198212 Dec 1981 Piancavallo, ItalyCombined
18 Mar 1982 Furano, JapanGiant Slalom
198330 Jan 1983   Les Diablerets, SwitzerlandCombined
198421 Dec 1983 Haus im Ennstal, AustriaDownhill
22 Dec 1983Giant Slalom
14 Jan 1984 Bad Gastein, AustriaDownhill
15 Jan 1984Combined
20 Mar 1984 Zwiesel, West GermanySlalom

World Championship results
  Year   Age  Slalom  Giant 
 Slalom 		Super-GDownhillCombined
19741717not run132
197619320113
19782165292
1980231121
198225DNFDNF——

From 1948 through 1980, the Winter Olympics were also the World Championships for alpine skiing.
At the World Championships from 1954 through 1980, the combined was a "paper race" using the results of the three events (DH, GS, SL).

Olympic results

  Year   Age  Slalom  Giant 
 Slalom 		Super-GDownhillCombined
197619320not run11not run
198023112
198427———
  • Wenzel and Ingemar Stenmark were banned from the 1984 Olympics (endorsement compensation).

Family

Wenzel is a sister of World Cup ski racers Petra Wenzel and Andreas Wenzel, and the wife of Austrian ski racer Harti Weirather, the world champion in downhill in 1982. Wenzel and Weirather run their own sports marketing agency, and their daughter Tina Weirather is also a World Cup ski racer.[4][8]

Honours
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References
  1. "Alpine skiing: Weirather to miss Olympic Games through injury". Archived from the original on 10 March 2010. Retrieved 26 February 2010.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link). vancouver2010.com. 23 January 2010
  2. Steamboat Today: Olympic history: Winter games in the 1980s. steamboatpilot.com/ 13 February 2010
  3. Hanni Wenzel Archived 28 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine. The official website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games]
  4. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Hanni Wenzel". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 27 January 2011.
  5. "Ski stars banned from Olympics". Ottawa Citizen. Reuters. 26 November 1983. p. 71.
  6. "Ruling slaps Stenmark". Bend (OR) Bulletin. UPI. 7 November 1983. p. D-4.
  7. "Winter Olympics will take place without three alpine skiers". Palm Beach Post. wire services. 25 January 1984. p. D4.
  8. "Hanni WENZEL". Archived from the original on 3 March 2012. Retrieved 18 February 2010.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link). fisalpine.com
  9. Luxarazzi
Preceded by
Marita Koch		 United Press International
Athlete of the Year
1980		 Succeeded by
Chris Evert Lloyd
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