Resi HAMMERER

Resi Hammerer attended school in Oberstdorf in Swabia, southern Germany. She began ski racing there and was 1945 Swabian champion. In 1947 Hammerer was Austrian slalom champion and won the White Ribbon race in Sankt Moritz in downhill and combined, bringing high expectations for the 1948 Winter Olympics in the Swiss town. She managed a bronze in the downhill at Sankt Moritz. In 1949 at the Hahnenkamm in Kitzbühel, Hammerer won the downhill and the combined, and she was Austrian champion that year in downhill, slalom, and combined. She competed at the 1950 World Championships in Aspen, but failed to medal and retired after that season, although she won a giant slalom in 1950 in the Sugar Bowl race at Mount Lincoln, California.

In 1949 Hammerer had already started designing her own line of ski wear and opened a sportswear store in Bregenz. In the 1950s and 60s she branched out with stores in Wien and Linz. She became internationally known for her sportswear, winning a Wien Fashion Award in 1985. She was also given a gold medal in 1961 by Vorarlberg in honor of her sports career, and in 1996 was given a gold medal for her services to the Republic of Austria.