As of: February 1, 2024, 10:20 p.m
By: Andre Oechsner
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The death of Ulrike “Ulli” Maier changed ski racing.
A companion at the time remembers the bad moments 30 years after the tragedy.
Garmisch-Partenkirchen – In her apartment in Salzburg, she experienced the fall of her friend Ulrike “Ulli” Maier, says Monika Maierhofer in an interview with the
Kronen Zeitung
.
The live images she watched on television spoke for themselves, “but I couldn’t imagine it.
Didn't want to.” Just recently, ski superstar Mikaela Shiffrin had a serious fall and the American even had to be transported away by helicopter.
Ulrike “Ulli” Maier |
|
|---|---|
Born: |
October 22, 1967, died at the age of 26 on January 29, 1994 |
World Cup debut: |
1984 |
Greatest successes: |
World Cup gold in Super-G (1989, 1991) |
Association: |
USK Rauris |
Ulli Maier became world champion while pregnant in 1989
On that fateful January 29, 1994, Ulrike “Ulli” Maier started the race with start number 32 on the descent from Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
The best of her colleagues had long since reached the finish line.
The then 26-year-old mother was not part of the downhill elite.
Maier's disciplines were the giant slalom and the super-G, in which she became world champion in Vail in 1989.
At the time, Maier was three months pregnant.
When she won World Cup gold again in 1991, daughter Melanie was waiting on her father's arm at the finish.
Maier and Maierhofer raced against each other as students and were roommates at the beginning of their careers at the ÖSV, the Austrian ski association.
“We were very close,” said Maierhofer.
Her good friend died 30 years ago.
It was the only fatal accident in alpine sports to date.
The scene of the accident was on the Garmisch-Partenkirchen downhill slope, in the traverse in front of the finish slope.
Ulrike “Ulli” Maier had a fatal accident while skiing downhill in Garmisch 30 years ago.
© IMAGO / HJS
Cervical spine and spinal cord severed: Ulli Maier died in a serious skiing accident in Garmisch
At 105 km/h, Maier suddenly tore off his right ski.
She fell and hit a wedge of snow covered with a bale of straw, which was originally used to secure a sawn post for the timing system.
But it was Maier's downfall.
The force of the impact and the subsequent body rotation severed the cervical spine and spinal cord.
Ulli Maier, the accident clinic in Murnau announced around quarter past six on the evening of January 29, 1994, was dead.
Maier's friend Monika Maierhofer couldn't believe it.
She walked in circles for a week and had no head for anything.
“My husband says: I switched to functional mode.
I tried to write down memories of Ulli.
And then delivered it as a speech at the funeral,” remembers Maierhofer, who only saw the tragic accident once, live at that time.
“However, the images are still very present in my mind.”
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Ulli Maier's death leads to improvements
Maier's fall was caused by the skis that were more tapered at the time and had ever higher binding plates.
The tragic death trip meant that the quality of the skis was more strictly regulated.
In addition, the safety precautions on the routes were reconsidered and massively strengthened.
Since the 1994/95 season, ski racers have also had to sign an athlete's declaration confirming that they are racing at their own risk.
There have already been numerous serious falls, especially this ski season, one of which occurred recently.
The race weekend in Cortina d'Ampezzo ended with chaos and serious accidents.
Valerie Grenier, for example, got it.
Grenier hit a bump, skied into a gate and then literally lifted off the ground, rolled over in the air and slid far down the slope along the safety fence.
(aoe)
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