Marc Girardelli

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

Girardelli started skiing at the age of five, and started racing at seven. After initially racing for Austria until 1976, he switched to racing for Luxembourg due to disagreements about coaching. 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.

In 1983 he achieved his first victory in Sweden, but shortly thereafter he received his first major injury, when he tore all the ligaments in his left knee. In spite of this major injury, he went on to win five slalom races in 1984 and placed third in the overall World Cup standings.

In 1985, Girardelli won 11 races and the World Cup overall title. This was followed by another World Cup 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 World Cup title again in 1991 and then in 1993 for a record fifth time - an achievement which has yet to be equaled. In total, Girardelli won 46 World Cup races (fourth-most of all time among men) and recorded 100 podiums.^[1]

Because Girardelli retained Austrian citizenship while skiing for Luxembourg, he was ineligible to compete in the 1980 or 1984 Winter Olympics. He received Luxembourg citizenship in time to compete in the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary but failed to medal. At the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, however, he won silver medals in Super G and in giant slalom.

Girardelli won 11 World Championship medals, including 4 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 December 1996; he retired from international competition at age 33.

World Cup victories

Season titles

Individual race victories

46 total (3 downhill, 9 super G, 7 giant slalom, 16 slalom, 11 combined)

Date	Location	Race
January 27, 1983	Gällivare	Slalom
January 16, 1984	Parpan	Slalom
January 22, 1984	Kitzbühel	Slalom
February 15, 1984	Borovets	Slalom
March 18, 1984	Åre	Slalom
24 March 1984	Oslo	Slalom
2 December 1984	Sestriere	Slalom
11 December 1984	Sestriere	Giant Slalom
17 December 1984	Madonna di Campiglio	Super-G
4 January 1985	Bad Wiessee	Slalom
13 January 1985	Kitzbühel	Slalom
21 January 1985	Wengen	Slalom
27 January 1985	Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Super-G
16 February 1985	Kranjska Gora	Slalom
10 March 1985	Aspen	Giant Slalom
20 March 1985	Park City	Slalom
23 March 1985	Heavenly Valley	Slalom
15 December 1985	Alta Badia	Combined
5 February 1986	Crans-Montana	Super-G
7 February 1986	St. Anton	Combined
1 March 1987	Furano	Super-G
15 March 1987	Calgary	Super-G
22 March 1987	Sarajevo	Giant Slalom
6 December 1988	Sestriere	Slalom
17 December 1988	Kranjska Gora	Slalom
13 January 1989	Kitzbühel	Downhill
15 January 1989	Kitzbühel	Combined
17 January 1989	Adelboden	Giant Slalom
20 January 1989	Wengen	Downhill
21 January 1989	Wengen	Downhill
22 January 1989	Wengen	Combined
26 February 1989	Whistler Mountain	Super-G
13 January 1991	Kitzbühel	Combined
13 January 1991	Kitzbühel	Slalom
15 January 1991	Adelboden	Giant Slalom
8 December 1991	Val d'Isère	Super-G
13 December 1992	Alta Badia	Giant Slalom
20 December 1992	Kranjska Gora	Giant Slalom
10 January 1993	Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Combined
12 January 1993	St. Anton	Super-G
17 January 1993	St. Anton & Lech am Arlberg	Combined
24 January 1993	Veysonnaz	Combined
23 January 1994	Wengen	Super-G
15 January 1995	Kitzbühel	Combined
22 January 1995	Wengen	Combined
21 January 1996	Veysonnaz	Combined

References

External links

• FIS-ski.com - race results - Marc Girardelli
• FIS-ski.com - World Cup standings - Marc Girardelli - 1980-97
• Ski-db.com - Marc Girardelli
• Eurosport.com
• Ski World Cup.org - Marc Girardelli
• Marc Girardelli.com - personal web site