Harald Paumgarten (4 April 1904 in

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

- 6 February 1952 near

Sankt Anton am Arlberg Sankt Anton am Arlberg, commonly referred to as St Anton, is a village and ski resort in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It lies in the Tyrolean Alps, with aerial tramways and chairlifts up to , yielding a vertical drop of . It is also a popular s ...

) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

cross-country skier Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

ski jumper Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the fina ...

, and

Nordic combined skier Nordic combined is a winter sport in which athletes compete in cross-country skiing and ski jumping. The Nordic combined at the Winter Olympics has been held since the first ever Winter Olympics in 1924, while the FIS Nordic Combined World Cup ...

who competed in the 1920s and in the 1930s. He competed in the

1928 Winter Olympics The 1928 Winter Olympics, officially known as the II Olympic Winter Games (french: IIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver; german: II. Olympische Winterspiele; it, II Giochi olimpici invernali; rm, II Gieus olimpics d'enviern) and commonly known as St. M ...

and in the

1932 Winter Olympics The 1932 Winter Olympics, officially known as the III Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Lake Placid 1932, were a winter multi-sport event in the United States, held in Lake Placid, New York, United States. The games opened on February ...

. In 1928 he finished 17th in the 18 km cross-country skiing event as well as 17th in the Nordic combined competition. Four years later he finished 29th in the shorter cross-country skiing event. In the ski jumping competition he finished 25th and in the Nordic combined event he finished 18th. He won a bronze medal in the 4 x 10 km at the

1933 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 1933 took place on 8–12 February 1933 in Innsbruck, Austria. This event would also debut the 4 x 10 km relay. Men's cross country 18 km 10 February 1933 50 km 12 February 1933 4 × 10 km ...

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

Personal life

Paumgarten's older brother Fridtjof (1903-1986) won several skiing competitions and was on the 1928 Austrian Olympic team, but did not compete due to a training injury. Paumgarten's younger sister

Gerda Paumgarten Gerda Gräfin Paumgarten-Hohenschwangau (4 February 1907 in Graz – 1 January 2000 in Vienna) was an Austrian alpine skier and world champion. Paumgarten received a gold medal at the 1936 World Championships in Innsbruck, winning the ...

(1907-2000) was also a successful skier, winning 4 Alpine World Championship medals. After retiring from competitive skiing, Paumgarten became a banker in New York City, but then returned to skiing as an instructor at the first alpine skiing school in the United States, Peckett's in Sugar Hill,

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. Paumgarten married Elise Biddle Robinson, a descendant of banker

Nicholas Biddle Nicholas Biddle (January 8, 1786February 27, 1844) was an American financier who served as the third and last president of the Second Bank of the United States (chartered 1816–1836). Throughout his life Biddle worked as an editor, diplomat, au ...

, in 1936; they had five children, daughters Meta, Elise and Gerda and sons, Harald and Nicholas. Paumgarten died in an avalanche in the skiing resort of St. Anton in 1952. His daughter Meta Paumgarten Burden died in an avalanche in

Aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section ''Populus'', of the ''Populus'' genus. Species These species are called aspens: *'' Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (China ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

twenty years later, in 1972.https://www.skiinghistory.org/news/featured-member-nick-paumgarten-sr Nick Paumgarten Sr.'s bio as a member of the International Skiing History Association

External links

World Championship results

References

1904 births 1952 deaths Austrian male cross-country skiers Austrian male ski jumpers Austrian male Nordic combined skiers Olympic cross-country skiers for Austria Olympic Nordic combined skiers for Austria Olympic ski jumpers for Austria Cross-country skiers at the 1928 Winter Olympics Nordic combined skiers at the 1928 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 1932 Winter Olympics Nordic combined skiers at the 1932 Winter Olympics Ski jumpers at the 1932 Winter Olympics FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in cross-country skiing 20th-century Austrian people {{Austria-skijumping-bio-stub