26 / 124
WELCOME
||
26
Kandahar race in St. Anton represented the turning point. And this race
was also the breakthrough for Innsbruck’s skiers, who at the legend-
ary downhill race of Parsenn occupied the first four places. During this
time, also the Patscherkofel and the Nordkette railways were opened.
The Seegrube was finally included as additional competition site, espe-
cially, when there was not enough snow in the valley.
The beginning of a career
The time of downhill skiers and slalom racers had begun. Toni Seelos was
one of the most famous skiers of his time: In 1930, he won the slalom at
the Seegrube – the first slalomhe had ever participated in. At that time, An-
neliese Schuh-Proxauf was only
eight years old. She was born in
Innsbruck in 1922 into a wealthy
and sportive family. Her moth-
er was famous for attempting to
swim across the English Chan-
nel, however, after eight hours
she had to give up, while her fa-
ther was one of Tyrol’s first bob-
sleighers. With parents like this,
it becomes quite clear why An-
neliese Proxauf, which is by the
way her maiden name, became
an athlete herself.
During the same time, when
Seelos won the slalom at the
Seegrube, the doctor diagnosed
that she and her ten-year-old
sister suffered from whooping
cough. According to the doc-
tor’s opinion, altitude was the
best remedy for it. Therefore,
her mother took the kids to the
Seegrube to build a snowman.
Ossi Schmidhuber, the first ski
instructor on this mountain, ap-
proached them and asked their mum if they didn’t have anything better
to do than to build a snowman. “Well, like what?” was her reply. “Skiing!”
was the answer. This is how easy careers can start.
“When I tried skiing for the first time, I just fell over,” remembers Anne-
liese Schuh-Proxauf. “I was just lying there, covered in snow. I remember
Ossi saying ‘Get up girl’ and I had no idea what I was getting myself into.”
Ossi Schmidhuber, who was also known by the name “King of the Nord-
kette”, wasn’t necessarily what one would call a sensitive person. However,
her mother did what she believed was best for her children and so the ski
lesson agreement was made. From then on, the sisters were taught how to
ski. After school, they went directly to the slopes. It was a hard time, but a
great learning experience that prepared them for life.
Tough competitions
Only three years later, the 11-year-old participated in her first race at
the youth skiing day of the Alpine Club. In 1937, Anneliese took part in
the Austrian Alpine Ski Championships. Three years later, she graduated
from school and started as one of very few women her business studies
at the University of Innsbruck. She was also the only woman in her field
to complete the studies.
In 1941, her era of victory began: At the World Championships in Corti-
na d’Ampezzo, Schuh-Proxauf won three bronze medals in the disciplines
of downhill, slalom and in their combination (after the war had ended,
these medals were declared invalid by the International Ski Association,
as some countries hadn’t been allowed to participate). In the following
years, Anneliese won a number of major competitions. In 1946, she won
all the important races including the Hahnenkamm race. She beat her
biggest competitor Eri-
ka Mahringer 16 times. In
1948, she won the qual-
ifying heat in Sölden for
the Olympic Games 8 sec-
onds ahead of the run-
ner-up Trude Beiser. How-
ever, she never became
Olympic Champion in St.
Moritz. “Close to the finish
line there was a tricky sec-
tion, a jump in the slope,
blank ice. I watched the
athletes before it was my
turn and everyone strug-
geled through that point.
‘That won’t happen to me’,
I thought. I heard my train-
er shouting something like
‘Feet together’, but I under-
stood wrong – instead, he
wanted me to slow down.
And so it happened. One
of my skis overturned and
the back of my head hit the
ice.” The result was a skull
base laceration and a day in a coma. After that, she wasn’t allowed to go
skiing anytime soon, but Anneliese Schuh-Proxauf wouldn’t listen. She
literally escaped her room and participated in another downhill race. She
didn’t win, but it shows what a determined and persistent person she
was and still is. Numerous injuries didn’t stop her from pursuing her ca-
reer. Her biggest success was winning the legendary Kandahar race in
Chamonix, 7 seconds ahead of the Olympic Champion Trude Beiser.
Anneliese Schuh-Proxauf’s story is one about many victories, but also
full of defeats, injustices and resistances. “I didn’t get on well with many
officials, as I‘ve always been a straight shootin‘ son of a gun,” says Anne-
liese Schuh-Proxauf. At the World Championships in Aspen, she suffered
from an ulcerating frontal sinus infection, but still managed to become
forth in downhill and in slalom, and fifth in giant slalom. When she end-
ed her active career in 1956, she had achieved a lot – but Schuh-Proxauf
is convinced that it could have been much more. Anyway, everything hap-
pens for a reason and you have to accept it.
||
„Die Seegrube ist ein Maßstab. Wer die fahren kann,
der kann Skifahren.” //
„The Seegrube is the benchmark.
If you can handle it, you must be a good skier.”
ANNELIESE SCHUH-PROXAUF, 2016