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Lindsey Vonn (USA) The dominating star on the women’s tour is aiming to capture her fourth Overall World Cup title this season and looks forward to set new records prior her possible retirement in three years after the 2015 FIS World Championships at Vail/Beaver Creek. This season, the Vail resident already celebrated nine victories – including her 50th one winning the difficult downhill at Garmisch-Partenkirchen. She has also shined in recent medal events clinching Silver in Downhill at the 2011 Garmisch-Partenkirchen FIS World Championships, Olympic Gold in the downhill in Vancouver 2010 and also bronze in Super-G there. In 2009, she became double World Champion in Downhill and Super G in Val d’Isère, and clinched a couple of bronze medals in the speed events at Are in 2007. Besides being the most successful US alpine ski racer, Lindsey also became a true sport star in the US after the 2010 Olympics and took part in numerous public events. She received many important awards in recent years including the Laureus of Sports two years ago and twice the ESPY Trophy for best US female athlete. She had a great too time making a guest appearance in her favorite show “Law and order” in spring 2010. Her photos on Sports Illustrated’s famous ‘Swim Suit Issue’ in 2010 were pretty spectacular too. The main reasons for her impressive career are her impressive determination and her intense work ethic during off season. |
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Maria Hoefl-Riesch (Germany) The third German after Rosi Mittermaier and Katja Seizinger to seize the Overall World Cup title last year, Maria Hoefl-Riesch certainly is one of the most talented skiers of her generation. After accumulating several gold medals in past juniors World Championships, she soon bloomed on the World Cup tour, winning three races in three different specialties within a few weeks in 2004. Two painful knee injuries prevented her afterwards to remain on the same winning wave in 2005 and 2006 but she didn’t need much time to find back her best rhythm after her return on the circuit in October 2006. She soon established herself as an amazing ‘race horse’ as she kept on accumulating podium finishes in all disciplines in the following seasons. Only Lindsey Vonn could beat her in the 2009 and 2010 Overall standings but last year, the Bavarian raised again her level to beat the American by mere three points at the end of the season. During her successful campaign, Maria managed to reach 16 podiums and win six events in four disciplines! Her fighting spirit has also helped her to achieve strong performance in recent medal events. She claimed two bronze medals on home-soil at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in February 2011 and three gold medals in slalom and Super-combined at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver and the 2009 FIS Worlds at Val d’Isère. Maria is also an avid tennis player who enjoyed competing with her club in springtime. Last year, the German star married her manager Marcus Hoefl at Kitzbühel in April 2011. Health problems and lack of consistency in slalom prevented her to seriously challenge her friend Lindsey Vonn in the early part of the season – but since her first season win in Super-combined at St. Moritz, Maria was able to dramatically raise her level, winning the spectacular Rosa Khutor downhill nearby Sochi last week. |
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Lara Gut (Switzerland) A very talented and gutsy young woman, Lara Gut achieved quite an amazing debut on the World Cup tour a few years ago, becoming at only 17 the youngest racer ever to win a Super-G in December 2008 at St. Moritz. A few months later, she claimed two silver medals in downhill and Super-combined at the 2009 Val d’Isère FIS World Championships. People were expected a lot afterwards from the racer born in the Italian-speaking-part of the country – Ticino – the region which already produced other famous ski stars like Doris De Agostini and Michela Figini. Figini was 17 too when she became the youngest downhill Olympic Champion in 1984 at Sarajevo. People were expecting a lot afterwards from the tiny and determined racer. Unfortunately Gut seriously hurt herself while training in Saas Fee, dislocating her hip in a crash. She missed the whole 2010 season because of a slow recovery from that injury. Luckily things went fine again after a while for the outgoing Swiss who has been training for years with her father Pauli. In January 2011, she was able to celebrate her second major victory on the World Cup tour at Altenmarkt, in Austria, where she beat all the other favorites in a very challenging Super-G race. Last summer she switched her ski manufacturer and decided to continue her career with the Rossignol group. Even though she scored some promising results in the first speed events at Lake Louise, in Canada, Lara has not been racing at her usual pace this season. Yet she remains confident for the rest of the season and the coming seasons and looks forward for encouraging results on the challenging courses at Bansko. |
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Anna Fenninger (Austria) Gold medalist in Super Combined a the Garmsich Partenkischen World Championships, 2011. Anna had her World Cup debut in slalom in Are in 2006 in Levi, FIN. She has raced 104 World Cups. |
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Julia Mancuso (USA) With a total of 320 World Cup starts including the City Event at Moscow, Julia Mancuso is certainly one of the most experienced racers on the tour. The Californian from Squaw Valley was only 15 in November 1999 when she entered her first World Cup race at Copper Mountain, Colorado. She didn’t qualify for the second slalom run there, but was more than excited by that experience and ready for more in the following seasons. In fact the outgoing American – also a passionate free-skier - is still having fun and keeps on fighting hard twelve years later after having established herself as one of the most colorful champions on the women’s circuit. At Garmisch-Partenkirchen, she ‘only’ won her 6th regular World Cup event last month prior her latest triumph in Moscow’s City Even, but her 30 podiums in all disciplines except slalom fully confirm her outstanding level. A true ‘race horse’ on difficult courses, ‘Jules’ is very difficult to beat when she is particularly inspired and motivated while fighting her way down a slope. It was the case in some very remarkable occasions such as the Olympic giant slalom at Sestriere in February 2006 or at the last Finals at Lenzerheide, in March 2011, when she beat all the other speed specialists after a reckless run down the ‘Beltrametti’ downhill course. Last year, Mancuso clinched Silver in Super-G at the FIS Worlds in Garmisch-Partenkirchen after another ‘special’ run. In February 2010, Julia became one of the most decorated US racers on the US Olympic women team with two silver medals in downhill and combined. She also got FIS medals in 2007 and 2005 at Are, Sweden and Bormio, Italy. Her most impressive record is related to her series of victories at past US Championships. She has captured an amazing total of 13 gold medals at US Nationals in the last ten years! The free-spirited American with Sicilian routs loves to spend most of her summertime in Maui, where she kite-surfs for hours on the ocean nearby her house at the beach. She has been working hard to help her glamorous boyfriend Aksel Lund Svindal to improve his surfing technique on the water. |
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Andrea Fischbacher (Austria) Olympic Gold in Super G in Vancouver, 2010. Worlds Bronze medalist in Val d’ Isere 2009. |
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Tina Maze (Slovenia) Tina Maze is certainly one of the toughest fighters on the women’s tour – and not only on race days. The attractive Slovenian who entered her first World Cup race in 1999 a few month before turning 16, is not only battling for points and seconds during the season as she is also successfully managing her own ‘aMaze’ team together with her trainer Andrea Massi. In 2008, they decided to quit the structure of the National Ski Team to help Tina to fully achieve her potential in a more efficient way than before. Despite the sometimes difficult economical situation, Tina and her staff have been pretty successful in recent years marked by some spectacular successes. In February 2008, the former giant slalom specialist celebrated a historical victory in St. Moritz winning the downhill despite a late start number. Tina ended the 2011 season on another highlight when she beat Austria’s Marlies Schild in the slalom of the Finals at Lenzerheide. In February, she had captured gold in giant slalom and silver in Super-combined at the FIS Worlds at Garmisch-Partenkirchen. She has nearly captured the Olympic title in giant slalom at Vancouver in February 2010 that she lost by only 5/100 of a second to Germany’s Viktoria Rebensburg. It was her second consecutive FIS silver medal in giant slalom as another German, Kathrin Hoelzl, could beat her by mere 9/100 of a second in Val d’Isère in February 2009. At Vancouver, Tina was also 2nd in the Olympic Super-G won by Austria’s Andrea Fischbacher. With her eleven World Cup wins in four disciplines, Tina Maze has become the most successful champion from her region ahead of former ski star Mateja Svet, the slalom World Champion in 1989. An accomplished piano player, Tina is now aiming to become the only sixth racer in the history of modern ski racing to excel in all five alpine disciplines. Last January, she missed by a few tenths of a second the opportunity to win a Super-G at Bad Kleinkirchheim where Switzerland’s Fabienne Suter finally prevailed. She also wishes to soon claim a World Cup crystal globe – hopefully the big one – in near future. |
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Anja Paerson (SWE) A true ski legend even prior her retirement, Anja Paerson remains one of the most dominant personalities on the women’s scene in the beginning of this Century also marked by other great characters as Janica Kostelic, Renate Goetschl and Michaela Dorfmeister. A winner in 42 World Cup events in all disciplines since her first triumph at Mammoth Mountain, Cal. in November 1999, Anja has accomplished a series of amazing performances in the meantime, including becoming the first Swede to clinch gold in downhill. With her total of seven FIS gold medals claimed from 2001 to 2007, the skier from Taernaby has set quite an amazing record as she has excelled in all five alpine disciplines during her best years! All in all, Paerson has amassed an impressive total of 17 medals from 2001 to 2011! It includes her Olympic gold in slalom at Sestriere in 2006.As her former role model Ingemar Stenmark, Anja has started her career as a tech specialist prior being attracted by the speed events in 2004. She ended 95 from her 374 World Cup events on the podium and clinched the Overall title twice – in 2004 and 2005. As she’s still enjoying ski racing a lot, there is a good chance to see the 31-year-old continuing her career for a while – maybe until Sochi 2014! |
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Fabienne Suter (Switzerland) 3 victories on the Ski World Cup. Bronze at the Bormio World Championships in the Team Event in 2007. Fabienne has been plagued by knee injuries during most of her career. The skier from Schwytz had her most successful weekend in Bansko in 2009 finishing 3 times on the podium out of 3 races. Suti finally realized her full potential in the downhill winning the event on the Pirin Mountain. She placed third in the second downhill and second in the Super G. Her 3 podiums in 3 days finally put her on the ski map. |
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Viktoria Rebensburg (Germany) Olympic Gold in GS in Vancouver 2010. 5 podiums on the ski world Cup among which 3 victories all in GS. Viki won the GS World Cup discipline in 2011. The instinctive skier from Bavaria started skiing at age 3. An avid golfer and tennis player, Viki loves eating sushi, listening to “The Kings of Leon” and her lucky number is 44. |
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Dominique Gisin (Switzerland) 3 World Cup wins and 3 more podiums placing all in Downhill and Super G. The speed skier from Engelberg in the Canton of Obwald was voted the “Lange Girl” in 2011. Brother Marc is also in the Swiss National Ski Team. Dominique ‘s best memory on the World Cup was “winning the Downhill in Crans Montana in Switzerland in front of my home crowd”. Dominique loves flying and hopes one day to be accepted into the elite fighter jet squadron in the Swiss army. Dom is also an avid golfer. |
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Elisabeth Goergl Double gold medalist in February 2011 at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in downhill and Super-G, the Austrian veteran had already impressed thousands of spectators of the opening ceremony of the event singing “You are the Hero” (between Heaven and Hell) in front of all the officials and local authorities including German Chancellor Angela Merkl. After years of fierce battles to establish herself as one of the main leaders on the women tour, Goergl finally found the energy and the serenity to fully achieve her potential on the treacherous and icy Bavarian courses. Interestingly enough, ‘Lizzi’ whose mother Traudl Hecher has been a two-time Olympic bronze medal winner in downhill in 1960 and 1964, initially excelled in the technical disciplines. She reached her first podiums in slalom and giant slalom and was the toughest rival of Italy’s Denise Karbon in the 2008 giant slalom World Cup standings. In Vancouver 2010, Elisabeth did as well as her Mam finishing 3rd in downhill and giant slalom! Her older brother Stephan has also done well on the mens National Ski Team until injuring himself a few years ago. Lizzi’s two World Championship titles have been honored with a post stamp presented to her in Vienna and being issued later on in September 2011. This winter the Austrian was more than happy to win her first World Cup downhill at Bad Kleinkirchheim in front of her fans and friends. She was a strong second last week on the Rosa Khutor slope nearby Sochi. |
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Christina ‘Tina’ Weirather (Liechtenstein) There are many reasons to admire and appreciate Christina Weirather, one of the best speed specialists on the World Cup tour this season with several podium finishes on all kinds of courses. The latest world class champion from the tiny Principality of Liechtenstein nicknamed ‘Tina’ by her friends and colleagues has shown as much courage and determination on the slopes recently as in past years when she was facing tough moments because of a series of grueling injuries. The likeable racer from Vaduz would have surged much earlier as a top contender on the World Cup tour if she would not have torn several times her knee ligaments after achieving promising results on the junior circuit. A double junior World Champion in downhill and giant slalom in 2006 and 2007, she also claimed several silver medals until 2009 after having already entered many World Cup events after the race at Soelden in October 2005. After another frustrating knee injury at Cortina d’Ampezzo in January 2010 a day after having finished the Super-G a happy 7th, ‘Tina’ decided to take her time in 2011 to achieve a safe comeback, only competing in a few races towards the end of the season. It was a good tactic. After switching to Atomic skis in the summer, she also moved to the Swiss team to train and travel with the best Swiss athletes. These changes certainly helped her to raise her level and becoming a main contender on the speed tour. She is now aiming for much more in future seasons – and dreams to walk on the footsteps of her famous parents – Hanni Wenzel and Harti Weirather ! Hanni was one of the leading champions in the 1970s with victories in all events and two Overall World Cup titles while Harti clinched gold at the 1982 FIS World downhill at Schladming before becoming a very successful businessman in charge of marketing the Austrian World Cup races. |
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