Famous Skiers

Toni Sailer

The Blitz of Kitz won three Olympic gold medals at the 1956 Games at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. Later on he appeared in a few movies and in the 1970s he was the director of the Austrian skiing team.

Toni Sailer (AUT)

Image: Andreas Bohnenstengel, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE,
via Wikimedia Commons

Jean Claude Killy

As one of France’s greatest skiers he won all three gold medals at the Olympic Games of 1968 in Grenoble. Later on he played in a few TV commercials and helped organize the Olympic Games in Albertville , France in 1992.

Jean Claude Killy (FRA)

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Ingemar Stenmark

The Swede is regarded as the best slalom and giant slalom skier of all times. He won 86 World Cup races, more than any other skier. He won two Olympic gold medals and two World Championships.

Ingemar Stenmark (SWE)

Image: Bengt Nyman, CC BY-SA 4.0,
via Wikimedia Commons

Bjørn Dæhli

The Norwegian athlete dominated cross country skiing in the 1990s. He won 12 Olympic medals, 8 of them in gold. In his youth he was a good ski jumper but later on concentrated on cross country skiing.

Bjørn Dæhli (NOR)

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via Wikimedia Commons

Matti Nykänen

The Finnish ski jumper is considered to be the best ever in that sport. In the 1980s he won four Olympic gold medals and five World Championships .

After retirement Nykänen had personal problems, including a few divorces and alcohol abuse. Nykänen died in 2019.

Matti Nykänen (FIN)

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via Wikimedia Commons

Ole Einar Bjørndahlen

The Norwegian has the nickname "King of Biathlon". He is the most successful biathlon athlete of all times. From the start of his career in the early 1990s until his retirement in 2018 Bjørndahlen won 13 Olympic medals and a total of 45 medals at World Championships.

Ole Einar Bjørndahlen(NOR)

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via Wikimedia Commons

Lindsey Vonn

The American Lindsey Vonn is one of the most successful female skiers of all times. She won a total of 82 World Cup races, most of them in the downhill and super-G events. Vonn is one of a handful of women who won World Cup races in all five alpine events.

She participated in 4 Olympic Games and won the gold medal in the women's downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

Lindsey Vonn (USA)

Image:Stefan Brending

Marit Bjørgen

Marit Bjørgen is the most successful female cross-country skier of all times. In a career spanning almost two decades, Bjørgen won 114 individual World Cup races. She won a total of 15 Olympic medals, five of them at the 2018 Pyeongchang games.

Marit Bjørgen (NOR)

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via Wikimedia Commons

Marcel Hirscher

Marcel Hirscher is one of the most successful alpine skiers of the 21st century. Between 2012 and 2019 he won the overall World Cup a record 8 times in a row. He also won 67 World Cup races, most of them in his best events, the slalom and giant slalom.

Towards the end of his career, the Austrian skier won two gold medals at the 2018 in PyeongChang.

Marcel Hirscher (AUT)

Image: Andreas Tröster, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE,
via Wikimedia Commons