On June 18, 1989, Anna Veith, formerly Fenninger, was born. She is a former Olympic Gold Medalist in Alpine Skiing from Austria. She won the 2014 and 2015 World Cups overall. She was born in Hallein, Austria, to Peter and Martina Fenninger, who later made Salzburg her home. Her longtime partner, former snowboarder Manuel Veith, and she were married on April 16, 2016. Veith revealed that the couple is expecting their first child together in February 2021.
She released “Zwischenzeit,” or “meantime,” as her debut book in early November 2016. Her career to date and her experience of being unable to compete due to a protracted injury is primarily covered in the autobiography.
Anna was raised in the Salzburg village of Adnet and was born in Hallein, made her World Cup debut in November 2006 at the age of 17. She participated in all five alpine events, with the exception of slalom as of January 2012. Without ever having won a World Cup race, she achieved her first significant success in 2011, when she won the super combined. Veith won her first Olympic medal at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, in the super-G at Rosa Khutor.
Anna Veith supports the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), a non-profit organisation whose goal is to serve as the global resource for cheetah protection and, ultimately, to ensure the species’ continued existence on Earth. Her race helmet features a cheetah design, and as an ambassador for this group, she has published several videos and photos of herself dressed as one to spread awareness of the animal’s endangered status.
In order to have a long-lasting impact on the Cheetah project, Veith also collaborated with the Austrian non-profit Build an Ark from 2013 to 2015. This organisation has a long history of working to conserve wildlife. The partnership between a professional athlete and a group dedicated to wildlife conservation, with the slogan “top-class sports meets wildlife conservation”, aimed to increase public understanding of the plight of the cheetah and the contribution that society can make to ensure its long-term survival.
At the conclusion of the season, she also won the World Cup giant slalom overall.
World Cup debut and initial success from 2006–2010: Anna Veith (née Fenninger) took home gold in the super-G, silver in the downhill, and fifth place in the slalom at the 2006 Junior World Championships. Veith made her World Cup debut in the slalom at Levi, Finland, on November 11, 2006. On January 21, 2007, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, she earned her first World Cup points (top 30), finishing 16th in the giant slalom.
After finishing in the top 20, she once more made progress on December 22, 2007, in St. Anton, where she placed fourth in the super combined, which was her best performance. Veith won gold in the giant slalom and silver in the combined and downhill events at the 2008 Junior World Championships.
She finished in the top 10 six times during the 2009 season, with her best performance coming on January 26, 2009, when she finished second in the super-G competition in Cortina d’Ampezzo. Veith finished fourth and seventh, respectively, in the super-G and super-combined events at the World Championships in Val-d’Isère. In the super-G competition at the 2009 Junior World Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, she took home the bronze medal.
Veith finished in the top ten three times the following year. She finished 25th in the downhill event and 16th overall at the Winter Olympics in 2010.
2011 World Champion: Veith had a very successful season 2011 overall. In the overall standings, she placed 12th with twelve top-ten finishes at the World Cup, including two podium finishes. She finished seventh in the super-G and sixth overall for the season in the downhill. Together with Romed Baumann, Michaela Kirchgasser, Benjamin Raich, Marlies Schild, and Philipp Schörghofer, Veith won gold in the super combined and silver in the team event at the 2011 World Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. In the super-G event at the Austrian Championships in late March, she won the gold medal to cap off the season.
First World Cup victories in 2012–2013; Schladming bronze medal: Veith won her first World Cup competition in the giant slalom at the end of December 2011 in Lienz, Austria. In the super-G, she has consistently finished on the podium at World Cup competitions. In December 2012, following another victory in the giant slalom. In March 2013 in Germany, Veith won his first super-G race.
Veith won bronze in the giant slalom at the 2013 World Championships in Schladming, Austria. She placed third overall in the 2013 Alpine Skiing World Cup behind Tina Maze and Maria Höfl-Riesch.
Olympic and World Cup championships from Sochi in 2014: Veith’s most lucrative season to date was in 2014. Veith won her first Olympic medal in the super-G at Rosa Khutor at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, by more than a half-second. In the giant slalom three days later, she came in second place to Slovenia’s Tina Maze, who had previously won the gold medal and was her World Cup rival. Rain was present during the Giant Slalom.
Following the Olympics, Veith competed in three more races, placing second once and winning twice, giving her 280 more points and a brief lead over Höfl-Riesch. in the final World Cup standings. Höfl-Riesch. regained the lead following the slalom at Re, but suffered an injury during the downhill at the World Cup finals in Lenzerheide. Veith finished second in the super-G the following day to win her first World Cup overall championship. She also won the crystal globe for that discipline by winning the season-ending giant slalom. With four World Cup victories and eleven podium finishes, Veith finished the season in second place in both speed events downhill and super-G. She had five victories and thirteen podium finishes in the 2014 season, including the Olympics.
World Cup and Championship titles in 2015: At the World Championships, Veith had her best-ever performance, taking home golds in the Super-G and GS as well as a silver in the downhill. She continued to perform well in the World Cup after the World Championships. She had fallen 361 points behind Tina Maze overall on January 19th. With a commanding victory in the GS in re on March 13, she briefly passed Maze in the standings, earning her fifth victory of the year and ninth consecutive World Cup podium. Since taking first place in the season’s opening race, the GS in Sölden, she had never held the overall lead before. There were only five remaining races. The final run of the final race of the season, the GS in Meribel, would determine the winners of the overall and GS titles. Veith had an 86-point advantage over teammate Eva Maria Brem in the GS standings at that point, where she was trailing Maze by 18 points overall. Veith obtained a victory and the GS and overall crowns along with it.
Veith experienced a training run accident three days prior to the 2015–16 season’s first race, the Giant Slalom at Sölden in October. She suffered severe tears to her ACL and meniscus, which prevented her from playing for the remainder of the current season and most of the following one. The giant slalom at Semmering on December 27, 2016, was Veith’s first World Cup competition following the injury, but she was disqualified from the second leg. She named former tennis player Florian Krumrey as her new manager in January 2016.
Pyeongchang Olympics in 2018: Veith attempted to defend her Super-G gold medal from 2014, but in a stunning upset, Czech skier Ester Ledecká defeated her to win the silver medal in PyeongChang.
2019: Another injury: She didn’t even fall when she tore her other cruciate ligament on January 12, 2019, while training in Pozza di Fassa, Trentino. She was forced to cancel the season, which meant she was also absent from the World Championships.
Retirement: On May 13, 2020, Veith declared her retirement from competitive athletics.
