“For Rudi, such a gala might not have been the first choice, but once he sat down, he was happy to sit down.” Hans Pum, long-term manager at the Austrian Ski Association (ÖSV), was caught up in the past yesterday at the gala night of sports in the Brucknerhaus in Linz. Exactly 35 years ago to the day, the unforgettable Rudi Nierlich won the gold medal in the giant slalom at the Alpine World Ski Championships in Vail. Pum: “He saved my head with that, because following we didn’t win any medals in the downhill or super-G, I was already counted on as men’s head coach.”
When Nierlich won his second title in the slalom three days later, the red-white-red ski world was back in order. “The fuss surrounding Rudi was of course enormous, but he didn’t let himself be fooled and was anything but a quip,” remembers Pum. At the time, the OÖN described the rather shy-seeming ski star’s taciturnity with the headline “Talking is silver, speaking is gold”. Hans Enn, who was also at the athletes’ gala in the Brucknerhaus yesterday, probably has less fond memories of the 1989 World Cup in Vail. After a “quick recovery” from a torn cruciate ligament, the Salzburg player went into the giant slalom with number two and had to give up following a few goals. While Nierlich was celebrated as a double world champion following winning gold in the slalom, Enn was on the operating table in Innsbruck.
From the archive:
His longest interview
Pum was there twice more in the ÖSV anorak at a world championship in Vail: in 1999, as alpine boss, he experienced Hermann Maier’s triumph (gold in downhill and super-G), and in 2015 the Mühlviertler was there as ÖSV sports director, as Anna Fenninger (today: Veith) won Super-G and giant slalom gold and Marcel Hirscher won a world title in the combination, which was actually just a “consolation prize” for the top star.
Although he avoided crowds whenever possible, Rudi Nierlich was at least a star guest at the gala night in Linz’s Brucknerhaus. On February 8, 1991, according to the OÖN report, he gave “the longest interview of his life” on stage there. Shortly before, he had defended his world title in giant slalom at the World Ski Championships in Saalbach. Many media outlets wrote at the time that Rudi was now “immortal.” They were wrong: On May 18, 1991, the then 25-year-old was fatally injured in a car accident in his home on Lake Wolfgangsee.
Author
Christoph Zöpfl
Head of sports department
Christoph Zöpfl
