Marc Girardelli
Marc Girardelli is an Austrian and Luxembourgish former alpine ski racer, a five-time World Cup overall champion who excelled in all five alpine disciplines.
Biography
Born in Lustenau, Austria, 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, from Lustenau, while his parents preferred for him to stay in his hometown. In 1981, he started to make significant progress with his first podium in Wengen, Switzerland, and from that moment was in contention for slalom and giant slalom podiums on a regular basis.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. In the following season, he won five slalom races and was third in the overall standings.
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. In total, Girardelli won 46 World Cup races and recorded 100 podiums.
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.. 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 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:.
His final World Cup race was in the downhill race at Val Gardena on December 20, 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 a 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. On 17 December 2018 Girardelli disclosed that he holds the majoritary share of Yulen AD, the controversial operator of the ski zone of Bansko.
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«. Since 2005 too, he is married to Andrea Palenov - the former couple and its two children are living in separation.
World Cup results
Season standings
Season titles
Race victories
- 46 total –
- 100 podiums
| Season | Date | Location | Race |
| 1983 | 27 February 1983 | Gällivare, Sweden | Slalom |
| 1984 | 16 January 1984 | Parpan, Switzerland | Slalom |
| 1984 | 22 January 1984 | Kitzbühel, Austria | Slalom |
| 1984 | 15 February 1984 | Borovets, Bulgaria | Slalom |
| 1984 | 18 March 1984 | Åre, Sweden | Slalom |
| 1984 | 24 March 1984 | Oslo, Norway | Slalom |
| 1985 | 2 December 1984 | Sestriere, Italy | Slalom |
| 1985 | 11 December 1984 | Sestriere, Italy | Giant Slalom |
| 1985 | 17 December 1984 | Madonna di Campiglio, Italy | Super-G |
| 1985 | 4 January 1985 | Bad Wiessee, West Germany | Slalom |
| 1985 | 13 January 1985 | Kitzbühel, Austria | Slalom |
| 1985 | 21 January 1985 | Wengen, Switzerland | Slalom |
| 1985 | 27 January 1985 | Garmisch, West Germany | Super-G |
| 1985 | 16 February 1985 | Kranjska Gora, Yugoslavia1 | Slalom |
| 1985 | 10 March 1985 | Aspen, USA | Giant Slalom |
| 1985 | 20 March 1985 | Park City, USA | Slalom |
| 1985 | 23 March 1985 | Heavenly Valley, USA | Slalom |
| 1986 | 15 December 1985 | Alta Badia, Italy | Combined |
| 1986 | 5 February 1986 | Crans-Montana, Switzerland | Super-G |
| 1986 | 7 February 1986 | St. Anton, Austria | Combined |
| 1987 | 1 March 1987 | Furano, Japan | Super-G |
| 1987 | 15 March 1987 | Calgary, Canada | Super-G |
| 1987 | 22 March 1987 | Sarajevo, Yugoslavia2 | Giant Slalom |
| 1989 | 6 December 1988 | Sestriere, Italy | Slalom |
| 1989 | 17 December 1988 | Kranjska Gora, Yugoslavia1 | Slalom |
| 1989 | 13 January 1989 | Kitzbühel, Austria | Downhill |
| 1989 | 15 January 1989 | Kitzbühel, Austria | Combined |
| 1989 | 17 January 1989 | Adelboden, Switzerland | Giant Slalom |
| 1989 | 20 January 1989 | Wengen, Switzerland | Downhill |
| 1989 | 21 January 1989 | Wengen, Switzerland | Downhill |
| 1989 | 22 January 1989 | Wengen, Switzerland | Combined |
| 1989 | 26 February 1989 | Whistler, Canada | Super-G |
| 1991 | 13 January 1991 | Kitzbühel, Austria | Slalom |
| 1991 | 13 January 1991 | Kitzbühel, Austria | Combined |
| 1991 | 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 |
| 1993 | 20 December 1992 | Kranjska Gora, Slovenia | Giant Slalom |
| 1993 | 10 January 1993 | Garmisch, Germany | Combined |
| 1993 | 12 January 1993 | St. Anton, Austria | Super-G |
| 1993 | 17 January 1993 | St. Anton, Austria | Combined |
| 1993 | 24 January 1993 | Veysonnaz, Switzerland | Combined |
| 1994 | 23 January 1994 | Wengen, Switzerland | Super-G |
| 1995 | 15 January 1995 | Kitzbühel, Austria | Combined |
| 1995 | 22 January 1995 | Wengen, Switzerland | Combined |
| 1996 | 21 January 1996 | Veysonnaz, Switzerland | Combined |
World championship results
- The Super-G in 1993 was cancelled after multiple weather delays.
Olympic results 50px">File:Olympic rings.svg">50px