Ulrike Maier (22 October 1967 – 29 January 1994) was a

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

alpine ski racer from

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 ...

, a two-time

World Champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Super-G Super giant slalom, or super-G, is a racing discipline of alpine skiing. Along with the faster downhill, it is regarded as a "speed" event, in contrast to the technical events giant slalom and slalom. It debuted as an official World Cup event d ...

. She competed at the

1988 Winter Olympics The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games (french: XVes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Calgary 1988 ( bla, Mohkínsstsisi 1988; sto, Wîchîspa Oyade 1988 or ; cr, Otôskwanihk 1998/; srs, Guts� ...

and the

1992 Winter Olympics ) , nations = 64 , athletes = 1,801 (1313 men, 488 women) , events = 57 in 6 sports (12 disciplines) , opening = 8 February 1992 , closing = 23 February 1992 , opened_by = President François Mitterrand , cauldron ...

. Born in

Rauris Rauris is a municipality in Salzburg (state) in the area of Pinzgau in Austria. There are about 3,150 inhabitants living in Rauris. Geography The market town Rauris is located in the Pinzgau in the state Salzburg at the river Rauriser Ache at ...

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

, where her father ran a ski school, Maier won the

gold medal at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in both 1989 and

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

. She also took home the

giant slalom Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline. It involves skiing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in slalom but less than in Super-G. Giant slalom and slalom make up t ...

silver medal in the 1991 event. Her first of five World Cup wins came in November

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

and she attained 21 podiums and 59 top ten finishes in her World Cup career.

Accident

Two weeks prior to the

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 17. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 17. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, was an international winter multi-sport event held fro ...

, the women's World Cup was in

Garmisch-Partenkirchen Garmisch-Partenkirchen (; Bavarian: ''Garmasch-Partakurch''), nicknamed Ga-Pa, is an Alpine ski town in Bavaria, southern Germany. It is the seat of government of the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen (abbreviated ''GAP''), in the O ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, in late January. The

downhill Downhill may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Downhill'' (1927 film), a British film by Alfred Hitchcock * ''Downhill'' (2014 film), a British comedy directed by James Rouse * ''Downhill'' (2016 film), a Chilean thriller directed by Patrici ...

on the classic

Kandahar Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a List of cities in Afghanistan, city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population ...

course at

Garmisch Classic Garmisch Classic is an alpine ski area in the Bavarian Alps of southern Germany, near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria. Its maximum elevation is above sea level at Osterfelderkopf, with a vertical drop of . Other peaks of ski area are th ...

was held on Saturday, 29 January, following an overnight snowfall. In a narrow part of the lower course less than twenty seconds from the finish, Maier's right ski caught an inside edge at , possibly from a patch of soft snow, and caused a violent crash which broke her neck. She died of her injuries shortly after being evacuated to the hospital in nearby Murnau. At the age of 26, she had considered retirement at the end of the

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

season, due to a dip in form that resulted in disappointing performances at the 1992 Olympic Games in France and the 1993 World Championships in Japan. However, she had bounced back by winning two giant slaloms during the 1994 season and claiming podium finishes in the two Super Gs of Cortina. Following these results, she was reconsidering her decision in the days before the fateful downhill run, planning to continue until the 1995 World Championships in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. Unlike most other fatal skiing accidents, her crash happened during a live television broadcast. Maier was survived by her daughter Melanie (b. 1989) and was buried in her home village of Rauris, where thousands attended her funeral. Teammate and close friend

Anita Wachter Anita Wachter (born 12 February 1967) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist from Austria. She focused on the technical events and specialized in giant slalom. Biography Born in Bartholomäberg, Montafon, Vorarlberg, ...

wore Maier's world championship medals in the procession. Initially it was claimed that her death was caused by hitting a wooden timing post. Based on that claim, Maier's fiancé Hubert Schweighhofer criticized the organizers of the race and filed suit against them. However, several months later the court found that Maier actually did not hit the timing post with her head, but probably broke her neck by crashing into a pile of snow on the border of the race course.

International Herald Tribune The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France for international English-speaking readers. It had the aim of becoming "the world's first global newspaper" and could fairly be said ...

25 November 1994. The court did not find any negligence from the organizers and dismissed the suit. Manslaughter charges against two

FIS FIS or fis may refer to: Science and technology * '' Fis'', an ''E. Coli'' gene * Fis phenomenon, a phenomenon in linguistics * F♯ (musical note) * Flight information service, an air traffic control service * Frame Information Structure, a Se ...

race officials were dropped after a settlement was reached in 1996.

World Cup results

Season standings

Race podiums

*5 wins: (2 SG, 3 GS) *21 podiums: (8 SG, 10 GS, 1 SL, 1 PS, 1 K)

World Championship results

Olympic results

References

External links

*
Ulrike Maier
World Cup standings at the International Ski Federation * * * * * *
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maier, Ulrike 1967 births 1994 deaths People from Zell am See District Austrian female alpine skiers Filmed deaths in sports Skiing deaths Sport deaths in Germany Olympic alpine skiers of Austria Alpine skiers at the 1988 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1992 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Salzburg (state) 20th-century Austrian women