Heinrich "Heini" Messner (born 1 September 1939) is a retired
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 ...
n
alpine skier
Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether for ...
. He competed at the 1964, 1968 and 1972 Olympics and won two bronze medals: in the giant slalom in 1968 and in the downhill in 1972.
Career
On 5 January 1967 Messner won the first ever World Cup race, a slalom; he had 15 more World Cup podium finishes later in his career. In the 1970s he pioneered the use of short skis in the technical races. Messner retired in 1972 season and for two years trained the Austrian women’s team. He then moved to
Steinach am Brenner
Steinach am Brenner is a market town in the district of Innsbruck-Land in the Austrian state of Tyrol located south of Innsbruck in the Wipptal at the Sill River.
Geography
Steinach am Brenner is located in Wipptal, along the Sill River Valley at ...
where he ran a ski school, a boarding house, and a ski rental service.
National titles
Messner has won five national championships at individual
senior
Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to:
* Senior (name), a surname ...
level.
*
Austria Alpine Ski Championships
**Downhill_ 1961
**Giant slalom: 1967
**Slalom: 1964, 1965, 1967
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Messner, Heinrich
1939 births
Living people
Olympic alpine skiers of Austria
Austrian male alpine skiers
Olympic bronze medalists for Austria
Olympic medalists in alpine skiing
Medalists at the 1968 Winter Olympics
Medalists at the 1972 Winter Olympics
Alpine skiers at the 1964 Winter Olympics
Alpine skiers at the 1968 Winter Olympics
Alpine skiers at the 1972 Winter Olympics
20th-century Austrian people
21st-century Austrian people