Marc Girardelli (born 18 July 1963) is an AustrianLuxembourger former alpine ski racer, a five-time World Cup overall champion who excelled in all five alpine disciplines.

Marc Girardelli
Marc Girardelli in April 2014
Born (1963-07-18) 18 July 1963 (age 61)
Lustenau, Austria
World Cup career
Seasons19801996
Podiums101
Wins46
Overall titles5
Discipline titles10
Medal record
International alpine ski competitions
Representing  Luxembourg
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 0 2 0
World Championships 4 4 3
Total 4 6 3
World Cup race podiums
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Slalom 16 4 5
Giant 7 10 9
Super-G 9 4 5
Downhill 3 8 6
Combined 11 2 1
Parallel 0 0 0
Total 46 28 26
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 1992 Albertville Super-G
Silver medal – second place 1992 Albertville Giant slalom
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1987 Crans-Montana Combined
Gold medal – first place 1989 Vail Combined
Gold medal – first place 1991 Saalbach Slalom
Gold medal – first place 1996 Sierra Nevada Combined
Silver medal – second place 1985 Bormio Slalom
Silver medal – second place 1987 Crans-Montana Giant slalom
Silver medal – second place 1987 Crans-Montana Super-G
Silver medal – second place 1993 Morioka Slalom
Bronze medal – third place 1985 Bormio Giant slalom
Bronze medal – third place 1989 Vail Slalom
Bronze medal – third place 1993 Morioka Combined

Biography

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Born in Lustenau, Austria into a family originally from Valsugana, Italy, Girardelli started skiing at the age of five and was racing at seven. He enjoyed significant success at junior level, winning local competitions in not only alpine skiing but also ski jumping. He competed for Austria until 1976, then switched to Luxembourg due to disagreements about coaching – the Austrian skiing federation wanted Girardelli to attend a ski boarding school in Schruns, thirty miles (50 km) from Lustenau, while his parents preferred for him to stay in his hometown.[1] In 1981, he started to make significant progress with his first podium (top-three finish) in Wengen, Switzerland, and from that moment was in contention for slalom and giant slalom podiums on a regular basis.[2]

He achieved his first World Cup victory in Sweden in February 1983, but incurred his first major injury two weeks later, tearing all the ligaments, cartilage, and a tendon in his left knee in a crash during a downhill at Lake Louise.[1] In the following season, he won five slalom races and was third in the overall standings.[3]

In 1985, Girardelli won 11 races and the World Cup overall title, followed by another overall title in 1986 and a third in 1989. After another major accident in 1990, in which he narrowly avoided paraplegia, he recovered to win the overall again in 1991 and in 1993 for a record fifth time – a record until Marcel Hirscher won a sixth title in 2017 (Annemarie Moser-Pröll won six women's World Cups). In total, Girardelli won 46 World Cup races (fifth-most of all time among men) and recorded 100 podiums.[4]

Because Girardelli retained Austrian citizenship while skiing for Luxembourg, he was ineligible to compete in the 1980 or 1984 Winter Olympics - but also to compete in the 1982 World Championships. (In contrast, regulations did allow to start for Luxembourg in the World Cup). For a while, his appearance at the 1985 World Championships was in doubt, but he was able to show evidence that he was in the process of claiming Luxembourg citizenship. The FIS gave special permission, and he won a silver medal in the slalom and bronze in the giant slalom. Girardelli received Luxembourg citizenship in time to compete in the 1987 World Championships. His first Olympics were in 1988 at Calgary, but he did not win a medal. In 1992 at Albertville, he won silver medals in super-G and giant slalom – the first medals for the Grand Duchy at the Winter Olympics, and Luxembourg's first Olympic medal since Josy Barthel's gold in the 1500 metres in 1952.

Girardelli won eleven World Championship medals, including four golds: (slalom at Saalbach in 1991 and combined at Crans-Montana in 1987, Vail in 1989, and Sierra Nevada in 1996).

His final World Cup race was in the downhill race at Val Gardena on 20 December 1996; he had announced his intention to start the next day in another downhill, but suffered a new knee injury. After failing to start in the following races, he announced his retirement from international competition in January 1997 at age 33.

Girardelli is an honorary citizen of Bulgarian ski resort Bansko. Since 2015, he has been serving as an advisor to the Minister of Tourism of Bulgaria, Nikolina Angelkova, on the matters of winter tourism.[5] On 17 December 2018 Girardelli disclosed that he holds the majoritary share of Yulen AD, the controversial operator of the ski zone of Bansko.[6]

He is an organiser of skiing events in several European winter sports resorts, and also in Portillo, Chile. Since 2005 he is an IBO for kids fashion in sports, called »Marc Girardelli Skiwear«.[7]

World Cup results

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Season standings

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Season Age Overall Slalom Giant
slalom
Super-G Downhill Combined
1980 16 84 32 not
run
1981 17 26 15 23
1982 18 6 8 3
1983 19 4 7 6 not
awarded
3
1984 20 3 1 4 34
1985 21 1 1 1 19
1986 22 1 11 5 3 4 2
1987 23 2 28 5 2 10
1988 24 5 23 13 4 7
1989 25 1 3 5 5 1 1
1990 26 25 15 12
1991 27 1 1 3 10 28 1^
1992 28 3 12 7 2 13 11
1993 29 1 13 3 5 6 1
1994 30 2 29 19 2 1
1995 31 4 9 18 10 24 1
1996 32 22 20 23 51 47 2
1997 33 115 58 49
^no season title awarded in combined in 1991, only one race completed

Season titles

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Season Discipline
1984 Slalom
1985 Overall
Slalom
Giant slalom
1986 Overall
1989 Overall
Downhill
Combined
1991 Overall
Slalom
1993 Overall
Combined
1994 Downhill
1995 Combined

Race victories

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Season Date Location Race
1983 27 February 1983 Gällivare, Sweden Slalom
1984 16 January 1984 Parpan, Switzerland Slalom
22 January 1984 Kitzbühel, Austria Slalom
15 February 1984 Borovets, Bulgaria Slalom
18 March 1984 Åre, Sweden Slalom
24 March 1984 Oslo, Norway Slalom
1985 2 December 1984 Sestriere, Italy Slalom
11 December 1984 Giant slalom
17 December 1984 Madonna di Campiglio, Italy Super-G
4 January 1985 Bad Wiessee, West Germany Slalom
13 January 1985 Kitzbühel, Austria Slalom
21 January 1985 Wengen, Switzerland Slalom
27 January 1985 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, West Germany Super-G
16 February 1985 Kranjska Gora, Yugoslavia1 Slalom
10 March 1985 Aspen, USA Giant slalom
20 March 1985 Park City, USA Slalom
23 March 1985 Heavenly Valley, USA Slalom
1986 15 December 1985 Alta Badia, Italy Combined
5 February 1986 Crans-Montana, Switzerland Super-G
7 February 1986 St. Anton, Austria Combined
1987 1 March 1987 Furano, Japan Super-G
15 March 1987 Calgary, Canada Super-G
22 March 1987 Sarajevo, Yugoslavia2 Giant slalom
1989 6 December 1988 Sestriere, Italy Slalom
17 December 1988 Kranjska Gora, Yugoslavia1 Slalom
13 January 1989 Kitzbühel, Austria Downhill
15 January 1989 Combined
17 January 1989 Adelboden, Switzerland Giant slalom
20 January 1989 Wengen, Switzerland Downhill
21 January 1989 Downhill
22 January 1989 Combined
26 February 1989 Whistler, Canada Super-G
1991 13 January 1991 Kitzbühel, Austria Slalom
Combined
15 January 1991 Adelboden, Switzerland Giant slalom
1992 8 December 1991 Val-d'Isère, France Super-G
1993 13 December 1992 Alta Badia, Italy Giant slalom
20 December 1992 Kranjska Gora, Slovenia Giant slalom
10 January 1993 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany Combined
12 January 1993 St. Anton, Austria Super-G
17 January 1993 Combined
24 January 1993 Veysonnaz, Switzerland Combined
1994 23 January 1994 Wengen, Switzerland Super-G
1995 15 January 1995 Kitzbühel, Austria Combined
22 January 1995 Wengen, Switzerland Combined
1996 21 January 1996 Veysonnaz, Switzerland Combined
1 now Slovenia
2 now Bosnia and Herzegovina

World championship results

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  Year    Age   Slalom   Giant 
 slalom 
Super-G Downhill Combined
1985 21 2 3 not run
1987 23 4 2 2 7 1
1989 25 3 4 14 1
1991 27 1 5 9 DNF
1993 29 2 7 cancelled 3
1996 32 DNS1 DNF1 18 18 1
  • The Super-G in 1993 was cancelled after multiple weather delays.

Olympic results

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  Year    Age   Slalom   Giant 
 slalom 
Super-G Downhill Combined
1988 24 9 DNF 9
1992 28 DSQ1 2 2 DNF DNF1
1994 30 DSQ1 DNF1 4 5 9

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Verschoth, Anita (27 January 1988). "The Mouse May Roar". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  2. ^ "COMPETITORS HAVING MORE THAN ONE PODIUM". fis-ski.com. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  3. ^ "COMPETITORS HAVING MORE THAN ONE TOP 10 POSITION". fis-ski.com. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  4. ^ "Marc Girardelli ar ski-db.com". Retrieved 14 March 2009.
  5. ^ "Marc Girardelli became advisor of Minister of Tourism". Bansko.bg. 5 January 2015. Archived from the original on 17 March 2016. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  6. ^ "Marc Girardelli claims to be the majoritary owner of Yulen AD". economedia.bg. 17 December 2018. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  7. ^ "Marc Girardelli's Kinder-Skibekleidung". skiinfo.de. 3 February 2005. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
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