Nils Stolzlechner
| Nils Stolzlechner | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 5, 1962 |
Nils Stolzlechner (born 5 May 1962) is an Austrian-born American former ski jumper.
Stolzlechner, a native of Kitzbuehel Austria and as a Junior promising Alpine Skier switched to Ski Jumping at the age of 14 and successfully made the Austrian Junior team. At 18 he was not selected to the National B team of Austria which would have ended his career. Being a dual national however he was allowed to compete for the US Ski Team and made his international debut at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 1982 in Oslo, where he reached #44 in the Individual normal hill competition and #54 in the Individual large hill competition. In the Team large hill competition he partnered with Jeff Hastings, Reed Zuehlke, and John Broman, and reached fifth place.
In th 1983/84 season he was the second best athlete on the US Ski Team, finishing 29th overall in the Springer Tourney. He the was injured and partially fractured his back. While in the hospital the USOC decided that he had to prove that he could perform and asked that he compete in two weeks at the US nationals in Lake Placid. Jim Page, then Nordic Director assured him of a guaranteed spot on the olympic team if he would be able to compete. He decided to represent the USSA Far West Division after switching to the US Ski Team and unfortunate for him there was no support.
Barely able to walk and compling with the request to " just show us you can jump' and even after all assurances, he was denied his promised his place on the 1984 Olympic team. While there was a court case and another chance to qualify in Thunder Bay, OT, the US Ski Team denied its then second best athlete a spot on the team that allowed for three discretionary athletes. Jeff Hastings and the injured Mike Holland were selected, but the also injured Stolzlechner was not given the third coaches discrecionary selection.
His first outing in the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup was on 26 March 1983 in Planica, where he reached 12th place and scored World Cup points. In the next two seasons he competed in the Four Hills Tournament, and scored an eighth place on the normal hill on 8 January 1985, in Cortina d'Ampezzo. This was the highest individual placing of his career. At the end of the 1984-1985 season he had reached a joint 49th place.[citation needed] He was unjustly not selected for the 1984 Winter Olympics, though he was reportedly one of the top skiers in the US that season.[1]
In 1985 he was again a member of the US Nordic Ski Team.[2] At the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 1985 in Seefeld in Tirol he reached #25 on the normal hill, and with Mark Konopacke, Rick Mewborn, and Mike Holland reached #5 in the team event.
He participated in the Four Hills Tournament in 1985-1986,and ended his ski jumping career being one of the most influential athletes on the US Ski Team. Afterward he was a professional kitesurfer, and after retiring from competitive sports began a career in hotel management.
He was inducted to the US Ski Jumping Hall of Fame in 2014 and credited for the fact that as a native Austrian was able to connect then US Ski Jumper then not successful to the Europeans. It is noted that the US Ski Team after Stolzlechner joined went from being one of the least ranked nations to reaching the top 5 in the World. [3]
References[edit]
- ^ "Olympic ski jumping team named". Press-Republican. 24 January 1984. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
- ^ Wakley, Ralph (20 October 1985). "1986 Is Looking Good for the U.S. Nordic Ski Team". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
- ^ Neumann, Fritz (30 December 2014). "Zwischen Elementen und Kontinenten". Der Standard (in German). Retrieved 6 March 2015.
External links[edit]
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