Fritz Feierabend

Fritz Feierabend was one of Switzerland’s greatest athletes to never win an Olympic gold medal. He joined the Swiss national bobsledding team in 1933 and had his first major international success at the 1935 World Championships, where he won a bronze medal in the four-man alongside Reto Capadrutt and the non-Olympians A. Lardi and H. Tami. Feierabend and Capadrutt then travelled to the 1936 Winter Olympics where, with Hans Aichele and Hans Bütikofer, they captured a silver medal in the four-man. Feierabend and Joseph Beerli also took silver in the two-man event. This duo then earned bronze at the 1938 World Championships, while Feierabend had his first major international victory a year later, capturing gold in the four-man at the 1939 edition alongside Beerli and the non-Olympians Heinz Cattani and Alphonse Hörning.

Feierabend’s career was interrupted by World War II, but he returned in top form at the 1947 World Championships and won both the two- (with Stephan Waser ) and four-man (alongside Beerli, Cattani, and Hörning) events. His next stop was the 1948 Winter Olympics, where he took silver in the two-man with Paul Eberhard and finished fourth in the four-man alongside Heiri Angst, Felix Endrich, and Fritz Waller. The latter event would be the only Olympic one in which Feierabend would fail to medal over his career.

At the 1949 World Championships, Feierabend and Angst earned silver in the two-man and, with Waller and Werner Spring, bronze in the four-man. One year later Feierabend and Waser won the two-man and, alongside Albert Madörin and Romi Spada, earned silver in the four-man. After coming up empty at the 1951 World Championships, Feierabend and Waser captured bronze in both the two- and four-man events at the 1952 Winter Olympics, aided in the latter by Madörin and André Filippini. Feierabend did not receive any medals at the 1953 World Championships, but then won the four-man the following year with Angst, Gottfried Diener, and Harry Warburton. His last major international championship was the 1955 World Championships, where he and Warburton took gold in the two-man and silver in the four-man alongside Aby Gartmann and Rolf Gerber. Feierabend retired from active competition with five Swiss national championships under his belt. By career he was involved in his father’s bobsled-building business and, together, they built the first all-steel bobsleigh.