oho #3 - The magazine of the Principality of Liechtenstein

Environment/Leisure
Tina’s sense of
snow
Born into a family of Olympic winners and world champions, now Tina
Weirather is herself a star in the international ski circus, and carries
the hopes of Liechtenstein fans for World Cup victories and medals.
Text: Michael Benvenuti
She was perhaps predestined to be a talented sportsperson. Her mother Hanni
Wenzel is a double Olympic champion, four-time World Champion, Overall World
Cup Winner of 1978 and 1980. Her father Harti Weirather secured the Downhill
Cup in 1981, and was crowned Downhill World Champion in Schladming in
1982. Tina was clever enough to pick only the best traits from both her parents,
declares mother Hanni with a laugh. “From her father she has the enthusiasm
for downhill courses as well as speed, while from me she got the sense of snow.”
Tina, whose real name is Christina, first ventured out onto the pistes at the
tender age of two and a half. “That was the “Red Devils” ski course in Kitzbühl,”
recalls Hanni Wenzel. It was the beginning of a burning passion. “Tina’s
favourite activity has always been skiing. She would keep her ski boots on at
lunch, in order not to lose time, and she was on the piste from early morning
until the lifts stopped operating at the end of the day.” In 1992 Klein-Tina
was a forerunner at the “Hanni Wenzel Cup”, two years later she
began ski racing herself, and quickly put paid to any doubts
about her exceptional talent.
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