Hanni Wenzel

Hanni Wenzel

Disciplines	Downhill, Super G, Giant Slalom, Slalom, Combined
Born	December 14, 1956 (1956-12-14) Straubing, West Germany
World Cup debut	March 1, 1972 (age 15)
Retired	March 1985
Olympics
Teams	3
Medals	4 (2 gold)
World Championships
Teams	6 includes two Olympics
Medals	9 (4 gold)
World Cup
Seasons	14
Wins	33
Podiums	89
Overall titles	2
Discipline titles	5
Medal record Women’s Alpine Skiing Competitor for Liechtenstein Olympic Games Women’s Alpine skiing Bronze 1976 Innsbruck Giant slalom Gold 1980 Lake Placid Giant slalom Gold 1980 Lake Placid Slalom Silver 1980 Lake Placid Downhill World Championships Gold 1974 St. Moritz Slalom Silver 1974 St. Moritz Combined Bronze 1976 Innsbruck Combined Silver 1978 Garmisch Combined Gold 1980 Lake Placid Combined

Hannelore (Hanni) Wenzel (born in Straubing, West Germany on December 14, 1956) is a former champion alpine ski racer from Liechtenstein. She won the country's first Olympic medal at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria.

Born in West Germany, Hanni moved to Liechtenstein at an early age. After she and her younger brother Andreas began to get successful in skiing - Hanni won the gold medal in slalom at the 1974 World Championships - the family was granted Liechtenstein citizenship. In 1976, she won the country's first Olympic medal by taking a bronze in the giant slalom at Innsbruck.

After winning the 1978 World Cup overall title, 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. She also won the combined event in Lake Placid, although it had World Championship status, not Olympic status. 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. Her brother Andreas won the overall men's title.

Hanni Wenzel retired following the 1985 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.)

World cup victories

Season titles

8 titles - (2 overall, 2 giant slalom, 1 slalom, 3 combined)

Season	Discipline
1974	Giant Slalom
1977	Combined
1978	Overall
	Slalom
1980	Overall
	Giant Slalom
	Combined
1983	Combined

Individual races

Season	Date	Location	Race
1974	19 December 1973	Zell am See, Austria	Giant Slalom
1975	February 21, 1975	Naeba, Japan	Slalom
	March 14, 1975	Sun Valley, USA	Slalom
1977	January 19, 1977	Schruns, Austria	Combined
1978	December 15, 1977	Madonna di Campiglio, Italy	Giant Slalom
	January 10, 1978	Les Mosses, Switzerland	Giant Slalom
	January 22, 1978	Maribor, Slovenia	Slalom
	January 24, 1978	Berchtesgaden, West Germany	Slalom
	January 25, 1978		Slalom
	March 2, 1978	Stratton Mountain, USA	Giant Slalom
1979	December 12, 1978	Piancavallo, Italy	Giant Slalom
	February 3, 1979	Pfronten, West Germany	Slalom
	February 4, 1979		Combined
	February 8, 1979	Maribor, Slovenia	Slalom
1980	December 8, 1979	Limone Piemonte, Italy	Giant Slalom
	December 14, 1979		Combined
	January 10, 1980	Berchtesgaden, West Germany	Giant Slalom
	January 16, 1980	Arosa, Switzerland	Giant Slalom
	January 21, 1980	Bad Gastein, Austria	Slalom
			Combined
	January 23, 1980	Maribor, Slovenia	Slalom
	January 26, 1980	Saint-Gervais, France	Giant Slalom
	1980 Winter Olympics
	February 25, 1980	Waterville Valley, USA	Giant Slalom
1981	January 27, 1981	Les Gets, France	Combined
	February 8, 1981	Zwiesel, West Germany	Combined
1982	December 12, 1981	Piancavallo, Italy	Combined
	March 18, 1982	Furano, Japan	Giant Slalom
1983	January 30, 1983	Les Diablerets, Switzerland	Combined
1984	December 21, 1983	Haus im Ennstal, Austria	Downhill
	December 22, 1983		Giant Slalom
	January 14, 1984	Bad Gastein, Austria	Downhill
	January 15, 1984		Combined
	March 20, 1984	Zwiesel, West Germany	Slalom

Post-racing

Later, she married Austrian ski racer (and World Champion) Harti Weirather and started a marketing agency with him. Their daughter Tina Weirather is a World Junior Champion and currently competes in the World Cup but withdrew from the Olympics in 2010 due to a recent injury.

External links

• Hanni Wenzel at the International Ski Federation
• FIS-ski.com - World Cup season standings - Hanni Wenzel
• Sports Reference.com - Hanni Wenzel
• Ski-db.com - results - Hanni Wenzel

Preceded by Marita Koch

United Press International Athlete of the Year 1980

Succeeded by Chris Evert Lloyd