Inger Bjørnbakken (28 December 1933 – 13 February 2021) was a Norwegian

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 ...

Career

She was born in

Bærum Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Norway that forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a population of 128,760 (2021). It is part of the electoral ...

and represented the club Bærums SK. She finished tied for sixth place (with fellow Norwegian

Astrid Sandvik Astrid Sandvik (born 1 October 1939) is a Norwegian Alpine skier who finished tied for sixth place (with fellow Norwegian and 1958 Holmenkollen medalist Inger Bjørnbakken) in the women's slalom at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo ...

) in the women's

slalom To slalom is to zigzag between obstacles. It may refer to: Sports ;Alpine skiing and/or snowboarding * Slalom skiing, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Giant slalom, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Super-G ...

at the

1956 Winter Olympics The 1956 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VII Olympic Winter Games ( it, VII Giochi Olimpici invernali) and commonly known as Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 ( lld, Anpezo 1956 or ), was a multi-sport event held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, from ...

Cortina d'Ampezzo Cortina d'Ampezzo (; lld, Anpezo, ; historical de-AT, Hayden) is a town and ''comune'' in the heart of the southern (Dolomitic) Alps in the Province of Belluno, in the Veneto region of Northern Italy. Situated on the Boite river, in an alp ...

. She also finished fourteenth in 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 ...

. Two years later, Bjørnbakken won the women's slalom at the 1958 World Championships in

Bad Gastein Bad Gastein (; formerly ''Badgastein''; Southern Bavarian: ''Bod Goschdei'') is a spa town in the district of St. Johann im Pongau District, St. Johann im Pongau, in the Austrian state of Salzburg (state), Salzburg. Picturesquely situated in a hig ...

. To date, she is the only Norwegian female world champion in alpine skiing. She later finished fourteenth in the slalom and 20th in the giant slalom of the

1960 Winter Olympics The 1960 Winter Olympics (officially the VIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Squaw Valley 1960) were a winter multi-sport event held from February 18 to 28, 1960, at the Squaw Valley Resort (now known as Palisades Tahoe) in Squaw Vall ...

. In the Holmenkollen Kandahar event she won seven races between 1955 and 1959. She also took seven national championship titles between 1956 and 1959. For her alpine world championship, Bjørnbakken earned the Holmenkollen Medal that same year (shared with

Håkon Brusveen Håkon Brusveen (15 July 1927 – 21 April 2021) was a Norwegian cross-country skier. He competed in the individual 15 km and 4 × 10 km relay events at the 1956 and 1960 Olympics and won two medals in 1960: a gold in the 15 km a ...

). Bjørnbakken is one of only eleven non- Nordic skiers to ever win the Holmenkollen medal (

Stein Eriksen Stein Eriksen (11 December 1927 – 27 December 2015) was an alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist from Norway. Following his racing career, he was a ski school director and ambassador at various resorts in the United States. Background E ...

King Haakon VII Haakon VII (; born Prince Carl of Denmark; 3 August 187221 September 1957) was the King of Norway from November 1905 until his death in September 1957. Originally a Danish prince, he was born in Copenhagen as the son of the future Frederick VI ...

Boghild Niskin Borghild Niskin (19 February 1924 – 18 January 2013)"Skiløperen Borghild Nis ...

, Sandvik,

King Olav V Olav V (; born Prince Alexander of Denmark; 2 July 1903 – 17 January 1991) was the King of Norway from 1957 until his death in 1991. Olav was the only child of King Haakon VII of Norway and Maud of Wales. He became heir apparent to the Norw ...

Erik Håker Erik Håker (born 4 March 1952) was the first Norwegian alpine skier to win a World Cup event. He has done that in 1971, and won four more events in 1972–1978. In 1979 he was awarded the Holmenkollen medal. Håker competed at the 1972, 1976 a ...

Jacob Vaage Jakob Vaage (9 February 1905 – 29 January 1994) was a Norwegian educator, author and historian. He served as secretary of the Association for the Promotion of Skiing and curator of the Holmenkollen Ski Museum. Biography Vaage was born in Aker ...

King Harald V Harald V ( no, Harald den femte, ; born 21 February 1937) is King of Norway. He acceded to the throne on 17 January 1991. Harald was the third child and only son of King Olav V of Norway and Princess Märtha of Sweden. He was second in the lin ...

Queen Sonja Sonja (born Sonja Haraldsen on 4 July 1937) is Queen of Norway since 17 January 1991 as the wife of King Harald V. Sonja and the then Crown Prince Harald had dated for nine years prior to their marriage in 1968. They had kept their relations ...

, and

Ingemar Stenmark Jan Ingemar Stenmark (; born 18 March 1956) is a Swedish former World Cup alpine ski racer. He is regarded as one of the most prominent Swedish athletes ever, and as the greatest slalom and giant slalom specialist of all time. He competed fo ...

. All were from

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

except Stenmark, who is from

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

). Bjørnbakken died in a fire in her hometown on 13 February 2021, at the age of 87.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bjornbakken, Inger 1933 births 2021 deaths Alpine skiers at the 1956 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1960 Winter Olympics Deaths from fire Holmenkollen medalists Norwegian female alpine skiers Olympic alpine skiers of Norway Sportspeople from Bærum