Karl Schranz (born November 18, 1938, in St. Anton, Tyrol, Austria) is a former alpine ski racer, one of the best in the 1960s. [1]
During his lengthy career (1958-72), Schranz won twenty major downhills, many major giant slalom races and several major slaloms. Late in his career he was the successor to Jean-Claude Killy as the World Cup overall champion in 1969, and again in 1970. He was also the downhill champion for those two seasons and was the giant slalom season champion in 1969. Had the World Cup series begun five years earlier, Schranz would be much better known.
The Olympics were unfortunately his nemesis. Schranz was injured in 1960, but started anyway. His disqualification in 1972 for acknowledging that he was not a pure amateur (like all other top racers) caused a furor and the reform of the IOC. He won a silver medal in giant slalom in 1964 at Innsbruck, despite being ill with the flu. He won no medals in 1968 at Grenoble, where his first slalom run (in the thick fog) was the fastest and his second was interfered with, by a race official stepping on the course. Forced to repeat his second run, he finished first overall, only to be disqualified by a 3-2 jury decision, because a second race official later claimed he had missed a gate prior to his being interfered with by the other race official. As Killy had already won gold in the downhill and giant slalom, there was a great deal of controversy over the suspicion that partisan French officials were attempting unfairly to prevent Schranz from winning so that Killy would sweep all three races, duplicating Toni Sailer's 1956 sweep. Schranz had better success at the world championships (then held every four years, like the Olympics): gold in the downhill and combined in 1962 and gold in the giant slalom in 1970.
Schranz later became a hotel owner in St. Anton and would play a key role in organizing the 2001 World Championships.[1]
World Cup victories
Season titles
Individual races
| Date |
Location |
Race |
| December 12, 1968 |
 Val-d'Isère |
Giant Slalom |
| January 11, 1969 |
 Wengen |
Downhill |
| January 18, 1969 |
 Kitzbühel |
Downhill |
| February 1, 1969 |
St. Anton |
Downhill |
| March 15, 1969 |
 Mont St. Anne, QC |
Giant Slalom |
| January 5, 1970 |
Adelboden |
Giant Slalom |
| January 23, 1970 |
Megève |
Downhill |
| February 1, 1970 |
 Garmisch-Partenkirchen |
Downhill |
| February 10, 1970 |
 Val Gardena |
Giant Slalom |
| December 12, 1971 |
Val-d'Isère |
Downhill |
| January 14, 1972 |
Kitzbühel |
Downhill |
| January 15, 1972 |
Kitzbühel |
Downhill |
References
- ^ FIS Newsflash 205. November 19, 2008.
External links
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