Hanni Wenzel

Hannelore "Hanni" Wenzel (born 14 December 1956) is a retired Liechtensteiner alpine ski racer. Wenzel is a former Olympic, World Cup, and world champion. She won Liechtenstein's first-ever Olympic medal at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, and its first two Olympic gold medals four years later in Lake Placid, New York.

Biography Born in West Germany at Straubing, Bavaria, Wenzel moved to Liechtenstein at an early age. After she and her younger brother Andreas had success in ski racing – Hanni won the gold medal in slalom and silver in the combined at the 1974 World Championships – the family was granted Liechtenstein citizenship. Winning the slalom title on 8 February 1974, she did become the youngest female Alpine Skiing World Champion in the slalom discipline (17 years, 1 month, 25 days) - ousting Esme Mackinnon who was the first female Alpine Skiing Champion in 1931; the British racer was 17 years, 2 month and 17 days young when she was victorious in the slalom race on 19 February 1931. At the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, she won the country's first Olympic medal, a bronze in the slalom at Axamer Lizum, and also picked up another world championship medal in the combined.

After winning the World Cup overall title in 1978, Wenzel's best year came in 1980. At the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, she won gold medals in the slalom and giant slalom, and just missed out on a sweep by taking the silver in the downhill at Whiteface Mountain. She also easily won the world championship gold medal in the combined event, its final edition as a "paper race" and her fourth world championship medal in that event. At the same Olympics, her brother also won a silver medal, placing Liechtenstein high in the medal ranking of the games. In addition to her Olympic success, she won nine World Cup races in 1980 and captured the overall, giant slalom, and combined season titles, and brother Andreas won the men's overall for a Wenzel family sweep of the overall titles. Her daughter Tina Weirather won a bronze medal in Super-G for Liechtenstein at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.

Wenzel was banned from the 1984 Winter Olympics by the International Ski Federation (FIS) for accepting promotional payments directly, rather than through the national ski federation. Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden was also banned; both were double gold medalists in 1980.

Wenzel retired following the 1984 season with two Olympic titles, four World titles, two overall World Cups, three discipline World Cups plus three combined titles, and 33 World Cup victories. (Through 1980, the Olympics were also the World Championships.)

Through the 2018 Winter Olympics, Liechtenstein has won a total of ten medals at the Winter Olympics, with eight won by two sets of siblings – the Wenzels earned six, while brothers Willi and Paul Frommelt are responsible for two more.

World cup results Season titles 7 titles – (2 overall, 2 giant slalom, 1 slalom, 2 combined) Season Discipline 1974 Giant slalom 1978 Overall Slalom 1980 Overall Giant slalom Combined 1983 Combined

Season standings Season Age Overall Slalom Giantslalom Super G Downhill Combined 1972 15 40 — 27 notrun — notawarded 1973 16 5 6 3 18 1974 17 3 4 1 16 1975 18 2 2 5 12 1976 19 9 9 13 16 6 1977 20 5 5 8 11 notawarded 1978 21 1 1 2 15 1979 22 2 5 2 10 1980 23 1 2 1 3 1 1981 24 3 6 3 9 2 1982 25 19 9 14 — — 1983 26 2 4 5 notawarded — 1 1984 27 2 7 5 3 4

Race victories 33 wins – (11 SL, 12 GS, 2 DH, 8 K) 89 podiums Season Date Location Discipline 1974 19 Dec 1973 Zell am See, Austria Giant slalom 1975 21 Feb 1975 Naeba, Japan Slalom 14 Mar 1975 Sun Valley, USA Slalom 1977 19 Jan 1977 Schruns, Austria Combined 1978 15 Dec 1977 Madonna di Campiglio, Italy Giant slalom 10 Jan 1978 Les Mosses, Switzerland Giant slalom 22 Jan 1978 Maribor, Yugoslavia Slalom 24 Jan 1978 Berchtesgaden, West Germany Slalom 25 Jan 1978 Slalom 2 Mar 1978 Stratton Mountain, USA Giant slalom 1979 12 Dec 1978 Piancavallo, Italy Giant slalom 3 Feb 1979 Pfronten, West Germany Slalom 4 Feb 1979 Combined 8 Feb 1979 Maribor, Yugoslavia Slalom 1980 8 Dec 1979 Limone Piemonte, Italy Giant slalom 14 Dec 1979 Combined 10 Jan 1980 Berchtesgaden, West Germany Giant slalom 16 Jan 1980 Arosa, Switzerland Giant slalom 21 Jan 1980 Bad Gastein, Austria Slalom Combined 23 Jan 1980 Maribor, Yugoslavia Slalom 26 Jan 1980 Saint-Gervais, France Giant slalom 1980 Winter Olympics 25 Feb 1980 Waterville Valley, USA Giant slalom 1981 27 Jan 1981 Les Gets, France Combined 8 Feb 1981 Zwiesel, West Germany Combined 1982 12 Dec 1981 Piancavallo, Italy Combined 18 Mar 1982 Furano, Japan Giant slalom 1983 30 Jan 1983 Les Diablerets, Switzerland Combined 1984 21 Dec 1983 Haus im Ennstal, Austria Downhill 22 Dec 1983 Giant slalom 14 Jan 1984 Bad Gastein, Austria Downhill 15 Jan 1984 Combined 20 Mar 1984 Zwiesel, West Germany Slalom

World Championship results Year Age Slalom Giant slalom Super-G Downhill Combined 1974 17 1 7 not run 13 2 1976 19 3 20 11 3 1978 21 6 5 29 2 1980 23 1 1 2 1 1982 25 DNF DNF — — From 1948 through 1980, the Winter Olympics were also the World Championships for alpine skiing. At the World Championships from 1954 through 1980, the combined was a "paper race" using the results of the three events (DH, GS, SL).

Year Age Slalom Giant slalom Super-G Downhill Combined 1976 19 3 20 not run 11 not run 1980 23 1 1 2 1984 27 — — — Wenzel and Ingemar Stenmark were banned from the 1984 Olympics (endorsement compensation).

Family Wenzel is a sister of World Cup ski racers Petra Wenzel and Andreas Wenzel, and the wife of Austrian ski racer Harti Weirather, the world champion in downhill in 1982. Wenzel and Weirather run their own sports marketing agency, and their daughter Tina Weirather is also a World Cup ski racer.

Honours Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Principality of Liechtenstein (06/09/2017).