Kurt Brugger (born 17 March 1969 in

Bruneck Bruneck (; it, Brunico or Ladin: ''Bornech'' or ''Burnech''; la, Branecium or ''Brunopolis'' is the largest town in the Puster Valley in the Italian province of South Tyrol. Geography Bruneck rises up in the middle of a wide valley (perhaps ...

South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous area, Autonomous Provinces of Italy, province , image_skyline = ...

) is an Italian luger and coach who competed from 1987 to 2003. Together with

Wilfried Huber Wilfried Huber (born 15 November 1970 in Bruneck, South Tyrol) is an Italian luger and coach who competed from 1985 to 2010. Together with Kurt Brugger, he won the men's doubles event at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehamm ...

, he won the men's doubles event at 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 ...

in Lillehammer. He competed in four Winter Olympics:

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

, 1992, 1994 and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

. Brugger originally competed in both singles and doubles, making his debut in both in the Luge World Cup in 1986–87 season, but soon focused on doubles, in which he took his first podium with a second place in Olang in 1987, and his first win in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo ...

in 1988. He also took two medals at the World Junior Championships in Olang in 1988, a gold in the singles and a bronze in the doubles. Brugger also won three medals in the men's doubles event at the

FIL World Luge Championships The FIL World Luge Championships, part of the International Luge Federation (FIL) have taken place on an almost annual basis in non-Winter Olympics years since 1955. These championships are shown for artificial tracks. See FIL World Luge Natural ...

with one silver (

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

) and two bronzes (

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

) as well as a silver medal in the mixed team event (

). At the

FIL European Luge Championships The FIL European Luge Championships, part of the International Luge Federation (FIL) have taken place since 1914. From 1914 to 1934, these championships were part of the Internationaler Schlittensportsverband (ISSV - International Sled Sport Federat ...

, he won four medals with one gold (Mixed team:

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 sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

) and three silvers (Men's doubles: 1992, 1994; Mixed team:

). Brugger's best overall finish in the

Luge World Cup The Luge World Cup season is a yearly competition first organized by the International Luge Federation The International Luge Federation ( French: Fédération Internationale de Luge de Course (FIL); German: Internationaler Rennrodelverband) is ...

men's doubles was second four times (1989–90, 1992–3, 1994–5, 1997-8). He retired from competition after the 2002–03 season. He subsequently engaged in mountaineering, with his most significant achievement being scaling the Himalayan peak of

Nanga Parbat Nanga Parbat ( ur, ) (; ), known locally as Diamer () which means “king of the mountains”, is the ninth-highest mountain on Earth, its summit at above sea level. Lying immediately southeast of the northernmost bend of the Indus River in ...

. He has also served on the staff of the Italian luge team, and was appointed head coach in 2013.

References

1988 luge men's singles results
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FIL-Luge profile
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External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brugger, Kurt 1969 births Living people Italian male lugers Lugers at the 1988 Winter Olympics Lugers at the 1992 Winter Olympics Lugers at the 1994 Winter Olympics Lugers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Olympic lugers of Italy Olympic medalists in luge Medalists at the 1994 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Italy Italian sports coaches Italian mountain climbers Sportspeople from Bruneck Germanophone Italian people 20th-century Italian people