Maria Isser (22 October 1929 in Matrei am Brenner – 25 February 2011 in Innsbrucktiroler-rodelverband
(German) retrieved 3 April 2011) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n luger who competed during the early 1950s and early 1960s. She won five medals at the

FIL World Luge Championships The FIL World Luge Championships, part of the International Luge Federation (FIL) have taken place on an almost annual basis in non- Winter Olympics years since 1955. These championships are shown for artificial tracks. See FIL World Luge Natura ...

with two golds (Women's singles:

1957 1957 (Roman numerals, MCMLVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday, common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, t ...

1960 It is also known as the " Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * J ...

) and three silvers (Women's singles:

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yiji ...

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

; Doubles: 1955). At the

European championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

, Isser won six medals in the women's singles event and one in the doubles event. This included five straight golds (Women's singles:

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh ...

–

, Doubles: 1954), one silver (Women's singles:

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, are kille ...

), and one bronze (Women's singles:

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...

). Maria's European gold in the doubles event in 1954 with her brother Josef was the first time a woman ever won a medal in a doubles event at a World Championships,

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

, or

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

until the debut of a mixed team event at both the European and World Championships in the late 1980s. Next year Maria and Josef finished at 2nd place in the doubles event at the

World Championships. In the 1958 World Championships, the silver and bronze pairs from Poland included one woman each.

References

Hickok sports information on World champions in luge and skeleton.
1929 births 2011 deaths Austrian female lugers People from Innsbruck-Land District Sportspeople from Tyrol (state) 20th-century Austrian women 21st-century Austrian women {{Austria-luge-bio-stub