Lorenz Nieberl

West German bobsledder Lorenz Nieberl won two gold medals at the 1951 World Championships at Alpe d’Huez together with pilot Anderl Ostler in the two-man event and completed by Michael Pössinger and non-Olympian Xaver Leitl in the four-man event. In 1953 he won the gold medal in the two-man event at his home track of Garmisch-Partenkirchen together with pilot Theo Kitt, while in 1954 at Cortina d’Ampezzo he earned a bronze medal with Kitt and non-Olympians Theo Grün and Klaus Koppenberger in the four-man.

Nieberl also won two gold medals at the 1952 Winter Games at Oslo with Ostler in the two-man event and completed by Fritz Kuhn and Franz Kemser in the four-man event. In order to have a shot at the title, the second German four-man sled wasn’t entered, and instead the two heaviest pushers – Kuhn and Kemser – joined Ostler and Nieberl in the remaining sled. This gave the Germans a decisive advantage, as they weighed in at 472 kg (including sled), and they comfortably slid to the gold. The international bobsleigh federation (FIBT) soon afterwards decided to limit the weight for four-man teams to 420 kg. Four years later Nieberl slid with Hans Rösch, placing ninth in the two-man event and sixth in the four-man event with his sled completed by Pössinger and Sylvester Wackerle.

Nieberl’s wife, Evi Lanig, and his brother-in-law, Hans Peter Lanig, were alpine skiers. In 2006 the story about the 1952 German four-man bob was told in a cinema comedy called Schwere Jungs (Heavy Boys).