Bruno Nöckler

Bruno Nöckler was a skier who specialized in the technical disciplines of slalom and giant slalom. He made his World Cup début in the Winter of 1975-76 and scored three top 10 finishes in his first season. The following season he recorded his first podium finish with a third place in Furano, Japan and finished 13th in the overall slalom standings.

Nöckler was included in the Italian team for both the 1978 World Championships and the 1980 Olympic Winter Games and recorded top 10 finishes in both. Although he remained a regular points scorer at the World Cup, his second and final podium finish did not come until February 1981 when he finished third in a giant slalom at the Norwegian resort of Voss. He contested his second World Championship at Schladming in 1982 where he recorded a fifth place in slalom and ninth in combined, which boded well for his future.

In preparation for the 1982-83 World Cup season, members of the Italian team travelled to New Zealand for the Southern Hemisphere Winter for off-season training. On 17 August 1982 members of the team were travelling near Mount Ruapehu when they were involved in a collision with another car. Nöckler, along with coach Ilario Pegorari and two other members of the national team, were killed in the accident. In 1990, on the occasion of the first World Cup ski competition to be held in New Zealand on Mount Hutt, an Italian delegation returned to the site of the accident to plant a tree and to place a cross in memory of the four road victims.