Person

Maier, Ulrike "Ulli"

October 22, 1967 - January 29, 1994

Ulrike "Ulli" Maier was an Austrian alpine ski racer. She was born on October 22, 1967 in Rauris, Austria. The daughter of a ski school director, she took part in numerous races as a child and teenager. In 1979, she became Austrian student champion in giant slalom and combined in her age group and won the Trofeo Topolino. At the age of 15, she was accepted into the Austrian National Ski Team, and in 1984, became Austrian junior champion in the combined. In the 1983/1984 season, she finished second overall in the European Cup and won the slalom classification. At the Junior World Championships in 1984 and 1985, however, she did not reach any top positions. After her good performances in the European Cup, the 17-year-old competed in the World Cup for the first time in the 1984/1985 season. On December 9, 1984, she scored her first points with 14th place in the Davos combined event, and on January 25, 1985, she finished eighth in the Arosa slalom, her first time in the top ten. The following winter, she finished in the points just once; in 1986/1987, she achieved two sixth places in the Waterville Valley and Val Zoldana slaloms. Maier made her debut on the podium at the start of the 1987/1988 season by finishing third in the Courmayeur slalom and was consistently in the top ten throughout the season. She qualified to participate in the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, where she finished sixth in the giant slalom as the best Austrian and finished tenth in the slalom. After the games, she also managed her first World Cup podium finishes in giant slalom and super-G, the disciplines in which she celebrated the greatest successes over the course of her career. With her consistently good performances, she finished eighth in the overall World Cup and was among the top ten in all disciplines, except downhill. In the 1988/1989 season, Maier finished second four times in the giant slalom, super-G, and combined disciplines. She celebrated her first major win at the 1989 World Championships in Vail. With a lead of almost three hundredths over teammate Sigrid Wolf, Maier became World Champion in Super-G. In addition, she reached sixth place in the combined and eighth in the giant slalom. She then announced that she was already three months pregnant at the time and therefore ended the season. The father of her daughter, Melanie, is Hubert Schweighofer, also an Austrian ski racer. Maier was voted Austria's Sportswoman of the Year in 1989. In the 1989/1990 season she returned to the slopes, but had to undergo two surgeries after a meniscus tear in January and a cruciate ligament tear in March and did not score any World Cup points. After the break due to injury, on January 11, 1991 she finished ninth in the giant slalom in Kranjska Gora and again scored World Cup points for the first time. A week later she was twelfth in the Super-G at Méribel. For the World Championships in Saalbach-Hinterglemm at the end of January/beginning of February, however, no one seriously expected the Salzburg native to finish at the top due to her lack of training. Thanks to her routine and technique, she made the unbelievable come true and successfully defended her world championship title by winning the Super-G ahead of Carole Merle from France. A few days later, she proved that this was no coincidence by taking second place in the giant slalom behind Pernilla Wiberg of Sweden. As the season progressed, she managed another podium finish in the World Cup at the last giant slalom in Waterville Valley. In the 1991/1992 season, Maier finished in the top ten eight times, her best result being second place in the Morzine Super-G. At the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, she narrowly missed the podium twice, finishing fourth in the giant slalom and fifth in the Super-G. After Maier had finished second seven times in the World Cup, she achieved her first World Cup victory at the start of the 1992/1993 season. On November 28, 1992, she won the Park City giant slalom. Two more victories followed in the Super-Gs from Vail on December 13th and from Cortina d'Ampezzo on January 16th. This put her in second place in the Super-G classification and fourth in the giant slalom classification. In the overall World Cup she was fifth. At the 1993 World Championships in Morioka, Japan, Maier could not build on her previous World Cup successes; her best result was eighth place in the combined, 14th in the Super-G, and 15th in the giant slalom. In the 1993/1994 season, Maier celebrated two more World Cup successes. She won the Santa Caterina giant slalom on November 27, 1993 and the Maribor giant slalom on January 21, 1994. Eight days later, she died in a ski accident. On January 29, 1994, Ulrike Maier fell during the Kandahar descent in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. She lost control when her right ski got stuck and fell. A speed of about 104 km/h was measured immediately before the impact. Some observers say she banged her head on an awkwardly positioned wooden post meant to shield the timekeeper and which was not sawn as required. In the court proceedings it was determined: “The impact of the runner with her buttocks on the snow wedge abruptly slowed down the rapid turning movement. However, because the rotation was still affecting the head with a mass of around 400 kilograms, the fatal injury occurred. Due to the massive impact of force, the spinal cord was torn from the brainstem at the connection point between the head and spine, resulting in central paralysis and immediate brain death.” The subsequent lawsuit against FIS ended in a settlement in favor of a fund for Maier's daughter. After the accident, Maier was taken to the Murnau accident clinic by rescue helicopter, where her death was determined. The accident happened during a race that was televised live and is etched in the minds of many viewers. The race resumed after the incident. Ulrike's accident led to increased safety precautions in alpine skiing, such as high-security safety fences, blue tracks in the snow, and safer helmets. Since the 1994/1995 season, athletes have had to sign a declaration that they are racing at their own risk. Kamil Taylan took the accident as the starting point for a 1994 television and book report critical of ski racing operations titled "Deadly Slopes: Ski Racing at Any Price". A passage was also dedicated to her on the World Cup course in Saalbach (Ulli Maier jump). In addition, on the 25th anniversary of her death in 2019, a ski slope in her hometown of Rauris was named after her.

Rauris, Austria
Murnau, Germany

Alpine ski racer

RAD, July 2008 version. Canadian Council of Archives.

Catalogued June 2023.

1) Archival material
2) https://www.welt.de/sport/article187830230/Ulrike-Maier-Bei-ihrem-Tod-stuerzte-die-Skirennlaeuferin-bergauf.html
3) https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulrike_Maier
4) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulrike_Maier