Petra Kronberger

Kronberger did not disappoint them, although it took her many years to bloom into a world-class skier. She battled homesickness, the challenges of puberty, and a serious injury to her ankle while making excellent grades throughout her years at the school in Bad Gastein and later at Schladming, where she transferred to another skiing school at age fourteen.

When Kronberger graduated, it did not look as if she was going to be able to make a living as a skier, so she took a job as a bank teller at the large Raiffeinsen bank. (Throughout her career, Kronberger continued to work there when she had the time.) But she continued to race, and finally, shortly before her eighteenth birthday, she won her first race on the Europa Cup circuit, one step below the World Cup. Kronberger went on to win three titles in the Austrian juniors division in quick succession. "For two years I had been thinking, I am no good," she recalled to Verschoth. "I'll never be good; I have chosen the wrong profession. Then, suddenly, it all clicked into place."