Background
Cranz was born 1914 in Brussels.
Cranz was born 1914 in Brussels.
Crantz was the dominating skier of the 1930s winning twelve world championship titles between 1934 and 1939. She was the older sister of Rudolf Cranz. After the break-out of World War I, Cranz and her family fled from Belgium to Traifelberg near Reutlingen.
There Cranz learnt skiing.
Afterwards the family moved to Grindelwald and Freiburg. Alongside her apprenticeship as trainer and philologist she started a successful skiing career.
To this day, Cranz remains the most successful competitor at Alpine World Skiing Championships with twelve gold and three silver medals. Taking place during World World War II with only Germany-friendly athletes, the championship was not acknowledged by the International Ski Federation.
In 1943 Cranz married Adolf Borchers.
After the end of the war she was arrested because of her collaboration with the Nazis and was forced to do farmwork for eleven months. Cranz fled into the American Occupation Zone in 1947. Cranz was inducted into the Hall of Fame of International Women"s Sports in New New York