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In 1989, the Canadian Brian Stemmle got caught in a safety net on the steep slope exit on the Streif and sustained serious injuries.
Marcel W. Perrenski reporter
The trainer and father of five-time overall World Cup winner Marc Girardelli saw the disaster coming in January 1989. «At the steep slope exit there is a ditch next to the net that urgently needs to be filled up. Otherwise, a racing driver will fly into the net very badly here.”
The then race director Toni Sailer (died in 2009) rejected Senior Girardelli’s application to the team management with the words “shut up, Helmut”. And the lack of insight from the three-time Olympic champion from 1956 almost cost Brian Stemmle his life.
After the Canadian skied into the safety net, he suffered a fractured pelvis and a torn intestine. He was in the hospital for three months and then had to undergo 18 months of rehabilitation. Stemmle successfully sued the organizing committee for damages. The 56-year-old is working as a ski expert for Canadian television this winter.
Serious accident on the Streif: The fall that nearly killed Brian Stemmle in 1989(00:40)
The teacher’s son from the Salzburg region has created a very special slogan for the Hahnenkamm downhill run: “When you’re at the start here, the Streif barks at you like a bad dog. And if you don’t bark back, she’ll bite you.” Schifferer speaks from experience, in 1996 he was bitten really badly by the Streif – after a bad departure at the finish jump, the downhill philosopher ended up in a coma for three days with a craniocerebral trauma.
Schifferer then returned to the ski circus in a spectacular manner. In the 1997/98 season, the man who had to spend a night in the prison cell with Hermann Maier because of a bicycle theft in Aspen secured the small ball for victory in the overall downhill World Cup. In 2002, the Lauberhorn triumphant from 1998 won Olympic bronze in the Super-G.
After that, the father of a daughter drifted more and more into the esoteric. In 2003 he met the energeticist Martin Weber, in whom he recognized Jesus in reincarnation. For his “shepherd”, Schifferer separated from his partner and child, began to talk to trees and slept on straw. After retiring in 2006, he was temporarily self-sufficient on an alp, now the 48-year-old rents out holiday apartments.
Schifferer has not appeared in the ski circus for a long time. But last year he called his former roommate Rainer Salzgeber, who has been Head’s racing manager for years. “The conversation with Schiffi was very special,” recalls the giant slalom vice world champion from 1993. “Schiffi asked me about a ski boot with which he could ski really fast on the one hand – and which he could use comfortably for après-ski on the other can carry.”
On his 30th birthday, the downhill skier from the state of Washington experiences the most dramatic hours of his life. On January 19, 2008, Macartney loses control of the finish jump and hits his head on the pimply hard slope. The viewers also fear the worst because the American’s body is shaken by convulsions.
But Macartney survived this accident with a cerebral hemorrhage and a contused lung. The 44-year-old is currently working as a trainer at a ski school in the Seattle area. His former service man Sepp Zannon, who has been preparing Dominik Paris’ skis for years, says: “Basically, Scott is doing very well. But if you ask him a question, you realize that the accident in Kitzbühel has changed him. It took Scott longer to respond than before the fall.”
Departure 2008 in Kitzbühel: Here Scott Macartney narrowly escapes death on the Streif(00:37)
January 22, 2009 is one of the worst days in Swiss skiing. This Thursday, reigning combined world champion Dani Albrecht fell at 138 km/h on the finish line. It took three weeks for the Valaisian to wake up from a coma after a severe traumatic brain injury. Nevertheless, the exceptional talent has fought back into the ski circus. In December 2010, Fiescher placed in the top 20 in the giant slalom in Beaver Creek.
After his resignation in 2012, “Albright” shook up the market with the ski clothing brand named after him. Since the sale of his brand, the trained mental trainer has been the owner of Mondhaus GmbH. Albrecht sells houses whose wood was felled during a special moon constellation.
And the 39-year-old shows that his special sense of humor didn’t break when he crash-landed in Kitzbühel when dealing with his six-year-old daughter Maria-Luisa. “Maybe the fall will help me with my upbringing. If one day I find out that Maria is racing too wildly and too fast down the ski slopes, I will show her the video of my departure.”
Horror accident 2009: After this fall, Albrecht was in a coma for three weeks(00:17)
On January 20, 2011, the life of the winner of four World Cup downhill runs was literally turned upside down during training on the Hahnenkamm. When he hits the mousetrap, Grugger suffers a severe traumatic brain injury and severe lung injuries. The trained chef and hotel clerk is at times in acute mortal danger.
In the meantime, however, the man from Salzburg is doing very well again. It didn’t work out with the comeback in the World Cup. For this, Grugger caught up on his high school diploma and now works as a teacher. With the former downhill specialist Ingrid Rumpfhuber, “Hans im Glück” has a seven-year-old daughter and a four-year-old boy.
He was in mortal danger: In 2011, Hans Grugger crashed badly at his home race(00:47)
Attention ski fans! Now quiz and type races
The 2022/2023 ski season is in full swing and so is the “Blick Ski Trophy”: Answer questions every day, type ski races and crown yourself as ski champion. Lots of great prizes await.
To take part in the “Blick Ski Trophy”, you have to register here.
Have fun and good luck!
The 2022/2023 ski season is in full swing and so is the “Blick Ski Trophy”: Answer questions every day, type ski races and crown yourself as ski champion. Lots of great prizes await.
To take part in the “Blick Ski Trophy”, you have to register here.
Have fun and good luck!