Gregor Schlierenzauer - Early and Personal Life

Early and Personal Life

Gregor Schlierenzauer was born on 7 January 1990 in Innsbruck, Tyrol, to Paul and Angelika Schlierenzauer. The second of three children, he has an older sister, Gloria, and a younger brother, Lukas. His uncle is Markus Prock, the winner of three Winter Olympic medals in men's luge, who settled him a contract with Fischer Skis in 2001 and a few years later with Red Bull. Schlierenzauer is deaf in the left ear from birth. At age eight, Schlierenzauer began training in ski jumping at SV Innsbruck–Bergisel club. He attended an ordinary Austrian grammar school, however, due to tight schedules in both sport and school, he had problems keeping up with his class work. Schlierenzauer then enrolled at Skigymnasium Stams in Austria, the worlds oldest ski-sport training center and boarding secondary school. He currently resides in Fulpmes, Tyrol.

Schlierenzauer began competing professionally in the 2005–06 season in the Continental Cup, then only fifteen years old. In February 2006, he won the gold medal at the Junior World Championships in Kranj, Slovenia and then Alex Pointner, the coach of the Austrian professional team, called him to compete in the World Cup. Schlierenzauer debuted in the Word Cup finishing in 24th place at the Holmenkollen Ski Festival on 12 March 2006.