Christl Franziska Antonia Cranz-Borchers (1 July 1914 – 28 September 2004) was a German alpine ski racer.[1] Cranz dominated international competition in the 1930s, winning twelve world championship titles between 1934 and 1939. At the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, she won the combined competition (slalom and downhill).[2]

Christl Cranz
Cranz at the 1936 Olympics
Born	(1914-07-01)1 July 1914 Brussels, Belgium
Died	28 September 2004(2004-09-28) (aged 90) Oberstaufen-Steibis, Germany
Medal record Representing  Germany Women's Alpine skiing Winter Olympics 1936 Garmisch-Parten. Combined World Championships 1934 St. Moritz Slalom 1934 St. Moritz Combined 1935 Mürren Downhill 1935 Mürren Combined 1937 Chamonix Downhill 1937 Chamonix Slalom 1937 Chamonix Combined 1938 Engelberg Slalom 1938 Engelberg Combined 1939 Zakopane Downhill 1939 Zakopane Slalom 1939 Zakopane Combined 1934 St. Moritz Downhill 1935 Mürren Slalom 1938 Engelberg Downhill

Biography

Born in Brussels, Cranz was the older sister of Rudolf Cranz. After the break-out of World War I, Cranz and her family fled from Belgium to Traifelberg near Reutlingen, where Cranz learned to ski. Afterwards the family moved to Grindelwald and Freiburg.[2]

Alongside her apprenticeship as trainer and philologist she started a successful ski racing career. In 1934, she won all titles at the German Championship. At the world championship in St. Moritz she won the slalom and the combined competition and was second in downhill (after Swiss Anny Rüegg). She won all titles at the world championships in 1937 (Chamonix) and 1939 (Zakopane). To this day, Cranz remains the most successful competitor at the World Championships, with twelve gold and three silver medals.[2] In the 1930s, the championships were held annually.

At the 1936 Winter Olympics, Cranz won the newly established alpine combined competition in a spectacular race. After a crash in the downhill competition Cranz was 19 seconds behind Laila Schou Nilsen (Norway), but after two outstanding slalom races she won the combined ahead of Käthe Grasegger (Germany) and Schou Nilsen.[2]

At the 1941 World Championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Cranz won three additional titles and then retired. Taking place during World War II with only Germany-friendly athletes, the championship was not acknowledged by the International Ski Federation.[2] After her active career, Cranz publicly donated her skis and equipment, meticulously exploited by the NS-propaganda, for the "Winterhilfswerk" to support the Nazi-German troops and aggression against the Soviet Union.[3]

In 1943, Cranz married Adolf Borchers. After the end of the war she was arrested because of her collaboration with the Nazis and was forced to do farmwork for eleven months. Cranz fled into the American Occupation Zone in 1947. Later she founded a skiing school with her husband, which she led until 1987. Cranz was inducted into the Hall of Fame of International Women's Sports in New York.[2]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Christl Cranz.

• Christl Cranz at the International Ski Federation
• Christl Cranz at Ski-DB Alpine Ski Database
• Christl Cranz at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
• Christel Cranz at the International Olympic Committee
• Christl Cranz, Alpine skiing’s first Olympic gold medallist at Olympic.org
• Christl Cranz in the German National Library catalogue
• Obituary
• Christl Cranz at Find a Grave

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