Sonja SPERL

West German alpine skier Sonja Sperl participated in the 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo and the 1960 Innsbruck Winter Olympics. Shortly before the 1956 Olympics she was the surprise winner of the 16th Hahnenkamm race at Kitzbühel, which qualified her for the Olympics, where she came 32nd in the downhill. Her best season was in 1960 when she finished seventh in the downhill, eighth in the slalom and ninth in the giant slalom. At Squaw Valley that year she won the silver medal in the Alpine combined, which did not form part of the Olympic programme, but was part of the World Championships. Between 1950 and 1955 she won all German youth titles, and later three national titles. After Squaw Valley she married and raised a daughter. Later she graduated as a ski instructor and also ran a guesthouse in Bayerisch Eisenstein.