Vreni Schneider celebrates the world championship title in slalom with her brother Heini, her father Kaspar (with world champion trophy) and her other brother Jacques on February 1, 1991 in Saalbach
Image: Keystone
Franz Heinzer (l.) and Daniel Mahrer (r.) won gold and bronze in the 1991 World Championship downhill in Saalbach
Image: Keystone
Chantal Bournissen and her fans are delighted with the combined World Championship title
Image: Keystone
The 1991 World Ski Championships are also closely associated with the name Gernot Reinstadler. At the time, the Austrian had succumbed to the serious injuries he had suffered in a fall in Wengen
Image: Keystone
Karl Frehsner was head coach of the Swiss men's team in 1991
Image: Keystone
The Austrian Stephan Eberharter made himself the most successful participant in the 1991 World Championships with his victories in the super-G and the combined
Image: Keystone
Vreni Schneider celebrates the world championship title in slalom with her brother Heini, her father Kaspar (with world champion trophy) and her other brother Jacques on February 1, 1991 in Saalbach
Image: Keystone
Franz Heinzer (l.) and Daniel Mahrer (r.) won gold and bronze in the 1991 World Championship downhill in Saalbach
Image: Keystone
Chantal Bournissen and her fans are delighted with the combined World Championship title
Image: Keystone
The 1991 World Ski Championships are also closely associated with the name Gernot Reinstadler. At the time, the Austrian had succumbed to the serious injuries he had suffered in a fall in Wengen
Image: Keystone
Karl Frehsner was head coach of the Swiss men's team in 1991
Image: Keystone
The Austrian Stephan Eberharter made himself the most successful participant in the 1991 World Championships with his victories in the super-G and the combined
Image: Keystone
The World Championships 34 years ago in Saalbach-Hinterglemm have a special place in the history of alpine ski racing. The event took place at a time of tragedy and war.
02.02.2025, 04:00
02.02.2025, 08:22
SDA
The meteorological high, which provided the event with glorious weather for almost two weeks, did not really fit. Despite the sunshine, there was a lot of shade in the Glemmtal in the days of the last week of January until the beginning of February; despite the blue sky, there were many dark clouds. The flags flying at half-mast were the visible sign of competitions under conditions outside the norm.
The global upheaval was only a matter of time; four days before the planned but then canceled opening ceremony, the worst fears were a reality. The second Gulf War began, a coalition led by the USA launched a counter-attack against Iraq, which had annexed Kuwait the previous summer. Sport was pushed into the background and debates about the sense and nonsense of a World Cup under the given circumstances began. Politicians, i.e. the Austrian government, and sporting authorities, the International Ski Federation FIS, quickly agreed to stick to the program in Saalbach-Hinterglemm. There was a consensus that canceling the event would not have solved any problems.
The Reinstadler tragedy
Thoughts about the possible consequences of the outbreak of war on the Arabian Peninsula were short-lived, lasting only a few hours. There was no room for them, at least within the ski family, after the tragedy that had occurred in Wengen. Horror gave way to grief. The 20-year-old Tyrolean Gernot Reinstadler had died in Interlaken hospital from the serious (abdominal) injuries he had suffered the day before in his crash in the qualification for the Lauberhorn downhill.
It goes without saying that the terrible images from the Bernese Oberland could not be suppressed in Saalbach-Hinterglemm - not even by the successes of the local racers, whose performances would have ensured a first-class ski festival under normal circumstances. For the first time in thirteen years, Austria was number 1 again. Thanks to eleven medals, five in gold and three each in silver and bronze, the ÖSV athletes overtook Switzerland at the top of the nation rankings.
The Swiss, for their part, were by no means disappointing. Three gold medals, one silver and two bronze were impressive. The results were in line with expectations - or even slightly better. Franz Heinzer won gold in the downhill after three 4th place finishes at the World Championships, Vreni Schneider in the slalom and Chantal Bournissen in the combined. It would have been too presumptuous to compare them with their performance four years earlier at the World Championships in Crans-Montana, when the SSV team outclassed the competition with eight titles and a total of 14 podium places, especially after the retirements of Pirmin Zurbriggen, Michela Figini and Maria Walliser.
The conflict with Frehsner
The Swiss delegation not only provided a talking point with solid performances on the slopes, but also off the slopes. The conflict between Karl Frehsner, head coach of the men's team, and Paul Berlinger, head of competitive sports, which had been smouldering for around a year, had reached the next level. Frehsner had once again publicly criticized Berlinger. The Austrian did not accept Berlinger as his superior and demanded that he should report directly to SSV Director Kurt Brudermann. The association's top management with President Max Steinebrunner rejected the request on the grounds that the current hierarchy should be maintained. The collaboration with Frehsner ended in July, just six months after the World Championships.
One racer stood out from the strong ÖSV team who had never won a World Cup race before. At the age of just 22, Stephan Eberharter made himself the most successful participant with his victories in the super-G and the combined. Because the super-G at the following World Championships in Morioka in Japan fell victim to the weather and the next but one title competition in the Sierra Nevada in Spain had to be postponed by twelve months due to a lack of snow, Eberharter's reign in this discipline lasted no less than five years.
The Nierlich tragedy
Rudi Nierlich was one of the world champions from Austria. Two and a half weeks before his 25th birthday, the highly talented athlete from the Salzkammergut successfully defended the giant slalom title he had won in Vail. Two years earlier, he had also won gold in the slalom in Colorado.
"If it works, it works," Nierlich used to say. Things did not go well for him for a long time, and only three and a half months after winning his third title, fate struck in the hardest possible way. Nierlich was killed in a car accident near his parents' house. The weather matched this latest sad chapter in Austria's skiing history. It was a rainy morning when the unthinkable happened.
