Sarah Schleper[1] (born February 19, 1979, in Glenwood Springs, Colorado), also known as Sarah Schleper de Gaxiola,[1] is former American, now Mexican alpine skier with dual Mexican citizenship via her marriage to a Mexican citizen, whose career started in 1995.
| Sarah Schleper | |
|---|---|
 American alpine skier Sarah Schleper after the first run of the giant slalom in Semmering (Austria) on 28 December 2010. | |
| Country |  United States Mexico |
| Full name | Sarah Schleper de Gaxiola |
| Born | February 19, 1979 Glenwood Springs, Colorado, U.S. |
| Spouse(s) | Federico Gaxiola |
| World Cup career | |
| Seasons | 1995- |
| Wins | 1 |
Personal life
editHer father is Buzz Schleper, who owns a ski shop in Vail, Colorado.[2] She is married to Mexican Federico Gaxiola and acquired Mexican citizenship in April 2014. She is now a dual citizen and lives in Vail, and Mexico.[3]
Career
editHer lone World Cup victory was at a slalom event in Switzerland in 2005.[4] Her best finish at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships was seventh in the slalom event at Santa Caterina (near Bormio) in 2005.
Schleper also competed in four Winter Olympics for USA,[1] earning her best finish of tenth in the slalom event at Turin in 2006. Schleper was named to the US team for the 2010 Winter Olympics in late 2009. Schleper announced her retirement shortly before competing in her last world cup slalom on December 29, 2011, in Lienz, Austria.[5] In her career spanning a total of 15 years, she took part in 186 World Cup races and achieved four podium finishes and one victory.
As has become traditional—a skier in her retirement race can wear any apparel she desires—Schleper wore a thin brown summer dress, bare-armed and bare-legged, and stopped halfway down the course to pick up her 4-year-old son. She then skied the rest of the course with the boy in her arms, to the enjoyment of the crowd and fellow skiers. Lindsey Vonn gave Schleper a long hug in the finish area, and race organizers presented her with a huge bouquet of roses.
After acquiring Mexican citizenship in April 2014, she came out of retirement in June 2014, to represent Mexico.[3] She raced for Mexico in the women's giant slalom at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2015.[6] When she joined the Mexican ski team, she doubled the size of the team, serving alongside Prince Hubertus of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, a long time sole representative for Mexico at the world circuit.[1]
Schleper competed for Mexico at the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics. Her Olympic effort is self-funded. She represents one of two athletes for Alpine Mexico, the other being Rodolfo Dickson.[1][7][8][9][10] She qualified for the 2018 Olympics, alongside alpinist Rodolfo Dickson, freestyler Roberto Franco, and cross-country skier German Madrazo.[11][12]
World Cup results
editSeason standings
edit| Season | Age | Overall | Slalom | Giant slalom |
Super-G | Downhill | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 19 | 102 | — | 46 | — | — | — |
| 1999 | 20 | 90 | 51 | 43 | — | — | — |
| 2000 | 21 | 50 | 21 | 25 | — | — | — |
| 2001 | 22 | 23 | 11 | 21 | — | — | — |
| 2002 | 23 | 22 | 10 | 20 | — | — | — |
| 2003 | 24 | 22 | 12 | 21 | — | — | — |
| 2004 | 25 | 17 | 11 | 12 | — | — | — |
| 2005 | 26 | 17 | 5 | 20 | — | — | — |
| 2006 | 27 | 65 | 27 | 36 | — | — | — |
| 2007 | 28 | did not compete: birth her child | |||||
| 2008 | 29 | ||||||
| 2009 | 30 | 97 | 55 | 41 | — | — | — |
| 2010 | 31 | 54 | 26 | 20 | — | — | — |
| 2011 | 32 | 53 | 30 | 22 | — | — | — |
| 2012 | 33 | 107 | — | 48 | — | — | — |
Race podiums
edit| Season | Date | Location | Discipline | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 10 Dec 2000 |  Sestriere, Italy |
Slalom | 2nd |
| 30 Dec 2000 |  Semmering, Austria |
Giant slalom | 3rd | |
| 2004 | 13 Mar 2004 | Sestriere, Italy |
Slalom | 2nd |
| 2005 | 12 Mar 2005 |  Lenzerheide, Switzerland |
Slalom | 1st |
World Championship results
edit| Year | Age | Slalom | Giant slalom |
Super-G | Downhill | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Representing the United States
| ||||||
| 2001 | 22 | DNF1 | DNF1 | — | — | — |
| 2003 | 24 | DNF1 | DNF1 | — | — | — |
| 2005 | 26 | 7 | 13 | — | — | — |
| 2009 | 30 | 28 | 31 | — | — | — |
| 2011 | 32 | DNF2 | 50 | — | — | — |
| Representing Mexico
| ||||||
| 2015 | 36 | DNF1 | 50 | — | — | — |
| 2017 | 38 | DNF1 | 41 | 37 | 38 | 27 |
| 2019 | 40 | — | 42 | 29 | — | — |
| 2021 | 42 | — | 41 | — | — | — |
| 2023 | 44 | — | DSQ1 | — | — | — |
Olympic results 
edit
| Year | Age | Slalom | Giant slalom |
Super-G | Downhill | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Representing United States
| ||||||
| 1998 | 19 | 22 | DNF2 | — | — | — |
| 2002 | 23 | DNF1 | 21 | — | — | — |
| 2006 | 27 | 10 | DNF2 | — | — | — |
| 2010 | 31 | 16 | 14 | — | — | — |
| Representing Mexico
| ||||||
| 2018 | 39 | — | DNF2 | 41 | — | — |
| 2022 | 43 | — | 37 | 35 | — | — |
References
edit- ^ a b c d e Tik Root (March 6, 2015). "Mariachi Man: Prince Hubertus and the Mexican ski team he helped create". Sports Illustrated.
- ^ John O’Neill (March 13, 2016). "How to be a 'ski bum': Buzz Schleper has built a successful business from catering to the ski crowds". VailDaily weekly. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
- ^ a b Meyer, John (June 9, 2014). "Alpine ski racer Sarah Schleper coming out of retirement at age 35". Denver Post. Denver, Colorado, United States. Retrieved October 25, 2014.
- ^ "FIS-Ski - resultats". Archived from the original on July 30, 2012.
- ^ The Washington Post[dead link]
- ^ "Double bonus for dual citizen Schleper at worlds". Yahoo Sports. February 13, 2015. Retrieved February 13, 2015.
- ^ Adriana Terrazas (October 31, 2017). "'Tres' company for the Mexico ski team in the Winter Olympics". ESPN.
- ^ "Tres mexicanos acudirán a Pyeongchang 2018" (in Spanish). Esportes.MX. May 18, 2017. Archived from the original on February 17, 2018. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
- ^ "México estará presente en los Juegos Olímpicos Invernales de 2018" (in Spanish). SIPSE.com. August 11, 2017.
- ^ Carlos Alberto Cruz (February 23, 2017). "México con cuatro o cinco atletas a Pyeongchang 2018". El Big Data.
- ^ Luis Gomez (February 9, 2018). "How to root for Team Mexico in the 2018 Winter Olympics". San Diego Union-Tribune.
- ^ Abigail Parra (February 7, 2018). "Delegación mexicana en PyeonChang 2018, la más grande desde 1992" (in Spanish). mediotiempo.
External links
edit- Sarah Schleper at FIS (alpine)
- Sarah Schleper at Olympics.com
- Sarah Schleper at Olympedia
- Sarah Schleper at Team USA (archived)
- Sarah's U.S. Olympic Team bio
- Official website
