Joos MINSCH

Jos Minsch won the FIS-1/A (predecessor of FIS World Cup) downhill races in Val d'Isère (beating the superstars Jean-Claude Killy and Guy Périllat), Jackson Hole in the United States, and Madonna di Campiglio. He also finished second to Karl Schranz at the )Lauberhorn) race in Wengen. He won the pre-Olympic race in Innsbruck on the )Patscherkofel), but finished only fourth in the Olympic race, missing the bronze medal by six-hundredth of a second. In practice for the 1965 downhill race in Wengen he fell shortly after the )Hundschopf) and broke his pelvis. Since then this )wave) has been called )Minsch-Kante) (“Minsch ground-surface”). After this accident he came back and won the 1969 World Cup downhill race in Cortina. Also he finished twice fifth in Wengen, but a second fall in Wengen brought his career to an end in 1970. Jos Minsch won the Swiss championships in downhill (1963, 1964, 1965), in giant slalom (1963) and in combined (1963). In 1963 he also became US champion in downhill and giant slalom. After ending his skiing career, Jos Minsch worked as a skiing instructor and as a caretaker of houses.