Anni Friesinger Bio - Biography

Name Anni Friesinger
Height
Naionality German
Date of Birth January 11, 1977
Place of Birth Bad Reichenhall
Famous for
Anni Friesinger has won four Olympic medals; gold at the 1500 m in the 2002 Winter Olympics and the team pursuit in the 2006 Winter Olympics and bronze at the 3000 m in the 1998 Winter Olympics and the 1000 m in the 2006 Winter Olympics. She managed to qualify for the German speed skating team in five events at the 2006 Winter Olympics: the team pursuit and the individual races at 1000 m, 1500 m, 3000 m, and 5000 meters. However, she failed to win gold in any individual events.

As well as being a five-time European Allround Champion and three time World Allround Champion, Anni Friesinger has won numerous titles in the World Single Distance Championships. Although she originally specialized in the longer distances, she also won the World Sprint Championships in 2007. In this, Friesinger became the fifth skater in history to be a World Champion in both Allround and Sprint disciplines (along with Sylvia Burka, CAN (1976 and 1977); Eric Heiden, U.S. (1977 and 1977); Natalya Petrusyova, URS (1980 and 1982); and Karin Kania-Enke, GDR (1980 and 1982)).Friesinger has set the world record at the 1500 m distance three times during her career, but the record has since been superseded by Canadian competitor Cindy Klassen. The Olympic record, however—1:54.02—still belongs to Friesinger, and was set 20 February 2002 during her winning run at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Anni Friesinger Photos