Gregor Schlierenzauer

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Gregor Schlierenzauer
Personal information
Full name	Gregor Schlierenzauer
Nickname	Schlieri
Date of birth	January 7, 1990 (1990-01-07) (age 18)
Place of birth	Innsbruck, Austria
Professional information
Club	SV Innsbruck-Bergisel
Skis	Fischer
World Cup
Seasons	2006–2008
Wins	11
Podiums	10
Total podiums	21
Infobox last updated on:
March 21 2008

Gregor "Schlieri" Schlierenzauer (born January 7, 1990 in Innsbruck) is an Austrian ski jumper. The next big Austrian hope began his senior career in 2005/06 with one win and three additional podiums in the Ski jumping Grand Prix. Right now, he has eleven wins in the World Cup.

[edit] Early career

He took his first jump when he was only two. He started training ski jumping when he was eight years old, in the club SV Innsbruck-Bergisel. His uncle, Markus Prock decided to be his manager. Thanks to his uncle, Schlierenzauer signed a contract with Fischer Skis in 2001, and few years later with the Red Bull company.

He competed in the Continental Cup. In February 2006, Schlierenzauer won the Junior World Championship in Kranj, Slovenia. The coach of the Austrian professional representation, Alex Poitner, called Schlierenzauer to compete in the World Cup. He debuted in the World Cup with a 24th place at the Holmenkollen ski festival on March 12, 2006.

[edit] World Cup career

[edit] 2006-2007

On December 3, 2006, Schlierenzauer took his first World Cup in Lillehammer, Norway, and became one of the youngest jumpers who ever won in Lillehammer. He also won in Oberstdorf, Germany, at the Four Hills Tournament 2006-2007. During this Four Hills Tournament, Finnish newspapers claimed that Schlierenzauer was extremely underweight, however, no evidence has been found that his was true. He won at the fourth competition, in Bischofshofen, Austria, on his 17th birtday, but he finished the second, after Anders Jacobsen (Norway), and in front of Simon Ammann (Switzerland).

Schlierenzauer took the fourth place in World Cup 2006-2007. He was the second, but Adam Malysz from Poland took the first position from Jacobsen, so Schlierenzauer was the third. But, his coach thought that Planica is too serious for 17-years-old Schlierenzauer, so he didn't compete there. He finished the fourth, behind Adam Malysz, Anders Jacobsen and Simon Ammann.

[edit] 2007-2008

At the beginning of the World Cup 2007-2008, Schlierenzauer took the second place on the World Cup list, behind his team mate Thomas Morgenstern. He also took the second place in Oberstdorf, Germany, at the Four Hills Tournament 2007-2008, but he won in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. He took the eight place at the first competition in Bischofshofen (the competition in Innsbruck was moved to Buschoshofen because of the strong wind). He was one of the favourites for winning the Four Hills Tournament 2007-2008, but, because of the horrible weather conditions, he took the 42th place in the firs series, not even entering in the second series. At the end of the Four Hills Tournament, he took the 12th place.

He skipped the competitions in Predazzo, where Tom Hilde from Norway took his first World Cup victory, and in Harrachov. On January 25, 2007, Schlierenzauer took his second World Cup victory in Zakopane, Poland. He also skipped the competition in Sapporo, destroying every chance to take the first position from Thomas Morgenstern.

After two second places in Liberec and the eight place in Willingen, he took part at the Ski flying World Championships 2008 in Oberstdorf, Germany. After four series of compiting, he won the gold medal, on February 23, 2008. The day after, on February 24, Austrian team (Schlierenzauer-Morgenstern-Koch-Kofler) won the gold in team competition.

He also took part in Nordic Tournament 2008. He took the second and the fourth place at two competitions in Kuopio (the competition in Lahti was moved to Kuopio because of the weather). Winning at the competitions in Lillehammer and Oslo, he won the 2008 Nordic Tournament.

After consecutively winning the last four individual competitions of the season, Schlierenzauer ranks second in the World Cup 2007-2008, 233 points behind the compatriot and friend Thomas Morgenstern. In March 2008, he improved the individual record of Austria on flying hills to 233,5 metres, which was also the longest jump of Planica 2008 ski jumping events.

[edit] Personal life

Gregor Schlierenzauer was born on January 7, 1990, in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian District Tyrol. His parents names are Paul and Angelika. He has an older sister, Gloria, and a younger brother, Lukas. His uncle is Markus Prock, who won three Winter Olympic medals in men's luge. Schlierenzauer is deaf from birth in the left ear.

Schlierenzauer lives in Fulpmes, Tyrol, Austria and attends Skigymnasium in Stams, where he will be graduating from economics school in 2008. Before he changed to Skigymnasium, he attended an ordinary Austrian grammar school, however due to tide schedules in both sport and school, had problems to keep up with class work. After changing to Skigymnasium Stams he managed to improve his grades up to a grade point average of 1.4.

Privatly, he loves the Jack Johnson's music, cooking, golf, football and tennis. In one interview, he said that, if he didn't become a ski jumper, he would probably be a tennis player or a football player.

Thomas Morgenstern, the Austrian ski jumper, is his best friend.

[edit] Career highlights

[edit] References

• FIS-Ski: Gregor Schlierenzauer - statistics
• Official site
• unofficial Finnish fansite
• Unofficial Polish Fansite
• Unofficial Finnish fansite
• All results and ranking in world Cup