Birgit Heeb-Batliner

Liechtenstein’s Birgit Heeb competed at four consecutive Olympic Winter Games, making her début at Albertville in 1992. Her career best Olympic result was ninth in the giant slalom at Nagano 1998.

With six appearances at the World Championships between 1993-2003, Heeb had three top-10 finishes in the giant slalom – fifth in 2001, seventh in 1996 and 10th in 2003. Her first international competition was the 1991 World Junior Championships in Norway, where she skied five events and had a best finish of 10th in the super-G. Her World Cup career produced one podium title in the giant slalom in 2003 in Park City, USA, and four other podium finishes (one second, three thirds). Heeb trained with the Swiss national ski team, and was coached by Swiss Olympian Thierry Meynet, who was the second run women’s giant slalom course setter at Nagano 1998.

Heeb was introduced to the sport by her parents Anton (engineer) and Marlis at the age of three. She is the youngest of three children, with two older brothers (Frank, Marcel). Heeb attended Realschule in Eschen and studied at Kaufmannische Berufsshule in Buchs, Switzerland. While skiing, she worked part-time as a secretary with a security service company. In 2001, she married Alex Batliner (who became a politician) and together they had one son and one daughter.