Werner finished in fourth in the slalom at the 1958 World Championships in Austria at Bad Gastein. He took fifth in the giant slalom, and was challenging Toni Sailer for the combined title with only the downhill event remaining. In contention for a medal in the downhill, Werner fell a few seconds before the finish. He lost a ski and a pole and eventually crossed the finish line, but was fourteen seconds back in a distant 37th place, which knocked him down to seventh in the combined standings. (From 1954 through 1980, the combined event at the world championships was a "paper race" which used the results of the three events, a pseudo-"overall" title.)