Austrians confirm women’s ski entry

Press, 28 July 1986, Page 44

Austrians confirm women’s ski entry

Organisers of the 1986 Air New Zealand F.I.S. international ski series at Mount Hutt have received heartening news with the confirmation that the Austrian women’s A team will take part. The highly regarded Austrian team will arrive in New Zealand on Thursday and their training camp at Mount Hutt will include competing in the first section of the F.I.S. series from August 18 to 21.

Among the 14 racers in the team are Katrin Gutensohn ranked first in the world for women’s downhill, and Elisabeth Kirchler, ranked sixth in super-G. Kirchler was a silver medallist in the giant slalom in the 1985 world championships at Borjnio, Italy.

Both Kirchler and another team member, Sylvia Eder, were also in the Austrian women’s contingent which trained and raced at Mount Hutt five years ago.

Eder, then aged a few days short of 16 years of age, was the star of the 1981 F.I.S. series, winning both the women’s international slalom and the international giant slalom in dashing style.

Other world-ranked Austrians coming south are Sigrid Wolf, Veronika Vitzthum, Veronoka Wallinger, Anita Wachter, Manuela Ruef, Ingrid Salvenmoser, Adelheid Gapp and Claudio Strobl, all among the top 30.

The Austrians selected Mount Hutt as a training and racing venue after looking at other choices in

Australia and South America.

Also taking part in the first part of the 1986 series will be the Japanese men’s and women’s teams.

Continental Cup status has been awarded by the F.I.S. (Federational Internationale de Ski) for the women’s events in the first part of the series and for the men's events in the second part of the series.

For the second part of the series, scheduled from September 22 to 26, both the Austrian and the United States men’s team have confirmed their attendance.' The F.I.S. series will be officially opened at Mount Hutt on August 17 by the Minister of Tourism and Sport and Recreation, Mr Moore.