Gertrud Gabl Explained

Gertrud Gabl
Disciplines:Downhill, giant slalom, slalom
Birth Date:26 August 1948
Birth Place:St. Anton am Arlberg, Austria
Death Place:St. Anton am Arlberg, Austria
Height:1.72m (05.64feet)
Wcdebut:January 1967 (age 18)
inaugural season
Retired:March 1972 (age 23)
Wcseasons:6 – (1967-1972)
Wcwins:7 – (2 GS, 5 SL)
Wcpodiums:17 – (7 GS, 10 SL)
Wcoveralls:1 – (1969)
Wctitles:1 – (1 SL)

Gertrud Gabl (26 August 1948 – 18 January 1976) was an alpine skier from Austria. She competed in several events at the 1968 and 1972 Olympics with the best result of 9th place in the giant slalom in 1968.[1] [2]

Her best season was 1968/69, when she won the Alpine Skiing World Cup.[3] Her uncle Franz Gabl was also an Olympic alpine skier.[1]

In the 1968 Winter Olympics she was 9th in the giant slalom and 12th in the downhill; she didn't finish the slalom.In the FIS Alpine Skiing World Championships 1970 she was 4th in the slalom and 5th in the giant slalom.

In the World Cup she scored her first world cup points on 19 January 1967, when she finished fifth in the slalom at Schruns. Later she went on to win five slaloms and two giant slaloms.

Her father Josef was also an excellent ski racer.

She won the Overall Alpine Skiing World Cup in 1969, the same year as Karl Schranz did it for the men. Both of them came from the same village, St. Anton am Arlberg, ant that is the only time that the women's and men's overall champions hailed from the same village.

Death

On 18 January 1976 Gabl was skiing with two friends on the northern slope of Mount Gamberg at the ski resort of St. Anton am Arlberg in Austria, when an avalanche buried the three, and she was killed. Her two companions were rescued alive. [4]

World Cup results

Season titles

Season
Discipline
1969Overall
Slalom

Season standings

Season
AgeOverallSlalomGiant
Slalom
DownhillCombined
18 18 11 19 not
run
not
run
19 7 4
20 19
21 16 15 13
22 98 4
23 19 12 19

Race victories

Season
DateLocationDiscipline
1968
3 victories
(2 SL, 1 GS)
11 January 1968 Grindelwald, Switzerland Slalom
5 April 1968 Heavenly Valley, USAGiant slalom
6 April 1968 Slalom
1969
4 victories
(3 SL, 1 GS)
4 January 1969 Oberstaufen, West GermanySlalom
7 January 1969 Grindelwald, SwitzerlandSlalom
16 February 1969 Vysoké Tatry, CzechoslovakiaSlalom
17 February 1969Giant slalom

World Championship results

Year
AgeSlalomGiant
Slalom
Super GDownhillCombined
19 not
run
21 4 5

Olympic results

Year
AgeSlalomGiant
Slalom
Super GDownhillCombined
19 not
run
23

Notes and References

  1. https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ga/gertrud-gabl-1.html Gertrud Gabl
  2. https://web.archive.org/web/20121019124003/http://www.fis-ski.com/de/606/615.html?type=biog&competitorid=18846&sector=AL Gertrude Gabl
  3. Web site: skiidrett – verdenscupvinnere i alpint – Store norske leksikon . Snl.no . 2014-05-18.
  4. "Gertrud Gabl Succumbs After Avalanche Hits", Bridgeport (CT) Telegram, January 19, 1976, p. 8