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Hannelore (Hanni) Wenzel (born 14 December 1956) is a former alpine ski racer from Liechtenstein,an Olympic, World Cup, and world champion. She won the country's first Olympic medal at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria.
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 | Giant Slalom | Super G | Downhill | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | 15 | 40 | — | 27 | — | ||
| 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 | ||
| 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 | — | 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 | |
| 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 | 13 | 2 | |
| 1976 | 19 | 3 | 20 | 11 | 3 | |
| 1978 | 21 | 6 | 5 | 29 | 2 | |
| 1980 | 23 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
| 1982 | 25 | DNF | DNF | — | — |
Olympic results
| Year | Age | Slalom | Giant Slalom | Super-G | Downhill | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | 19 | 3 | 20 | 11 | ||
| 1980 | 23 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 1984 | 27 | — | — | — |
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).