Maria Höfl-Riesch


Maria Höfl-Riesch is a former German World Cup alpine ski racer. She is a three-time Olympic champion, two-time world champion, and an overall World Cup champion.
Höfl-Riesch made her World Cup debut in February 2001 and won gold medals in slalom and super combined at the 2010 Winter Olympics. She won the World Cup overall title in 2011. At the 2014 Winter Olympics, she defended her super combined title to win her third Olympic gold medal, and also won a silver medal in the super-G.

Career

Born in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Höfl-Riesch was a prodigious talent as a junior and won seven medals in all of the disciplines at four Junior World Championships, including three gold medals in combined and super-G.
As the racing careers of Martina Ertl-Renz and Hilde Gerg concluded, Höfl-Riesch rose as the leading female racer on the German national team. Injuries cut short her seasons in 2005 and 2006, causing her to miss the 2005 World Championships and the 2006 Winter Olympics.
During the 2009 season, Höfl-Riesch won four slalom events on the World Cup tour and won the gold medal in the slalom at the World Championships. Prior to 2009, her most successful season was in 2004, when she finished third in the overall World Cup standings, with three race victories. She also finished third in the overall standings in 2008. In the 2007 season she won her second downhill race, at Lake Louise, Canada.
Riesch won two gold medals at the 2010 Winter Olympics, in the super combined and slalom. After finishing second in the overall World Cup standings in 2009 and 2010, Riesch built a big lead early in the 2011 season which was enough to win the overall title, besting three-time defending champion Lindsey Vonn of the U.S. by just three points. At the World Cup finals in Lenzerheide, Vonn took the overall lead after the downhill, then Riesch reclaimed it after the slalom; the super-G and giant slalom races were cancelled due to poor conditions. She retired after the 2014 season after crashing in the downhill World Cup Final.

Personal

Höfl-Riesch is also a nationally ranked tennis player and a cyclist. Her younger sister, Susanne Riesch, is also a former World Cup ski racer, specializing in the slalom. She is a chief constable in the Bundeszollverwaltung and a member of the custom service ski team.
One of her closest friends on the World Cup tour was Lindsey Vonn of the United States.
Höfl-Riesch married her manager Marcus Höfl on 14 April 2011.
At a height of, she was one of the tallest women on the World Cup circuit.

World Cup results

Season titles

SeasonDiscipline
2008Super-G
2008Combined
2009Slalom
2010Slalom
2011Overall
2014Downhill

Season standings

Source:

Race victories

SeasonDateLocationDiscipline
2004
3 victories
30 Jan 2004 Haus im Ennstal, AustriaDownhill
2004
3 victories
1 Feb 2004 Haus im Ennstal, AustriaSuper-G
2004
3 victories
29 Feb 2004 Levi, FinlandSlalom
20071 Dec 2006 Lake Louise, CanadaDownhill
2008
21 Jan 2008 Cortina d'Ampezzo, ItalySuper-G
2008
24 Feb 2008 Whistler, CanadaSuper combined
2009
5 victories
14 Dec 2008 La Molina, SpainSlalom
2009
5 victories
29 Dec 2008 Semmering, AustriaSlalom
2009
5 victories
4 Jan 2009 Zagreb, CroatiaSlalom
2009
5 victories
11 Jan 2009 Maribor, SloveniaSlalom
2009
5 victories
20 Feb 2009 Tarvisio, ItalySuper combined
2010
3 victories
14 Nov 2009 Levi, FinlandSlalom
2010
3 victories
30 Jan 2010 St. Moritz, SwitzerlandDownhill
2010
3 victories
10 Mar 2010 Garmisch, GermanyDownhill
2011
7 victories
3 Dec 2010 Lake Louise, CanadaDownhill
2011
7 victories
4 Dec 2010 Lake Louise, CanadaDownhill
2011
7 victories
11 Jan 2011 Flachau, AustriaSlalom
2011
7 victories
22 Jan 2011 Cortina d'Ampezzo, ItalyDownhill
2011
7 victories
25 Feb 2011 Åre, SwedenSuper combined
2011
7 victories
27 Feb 2011 Åre, SwedenSuper-G
2011
7 victories
20 Mar 2011 Lenzerheide, SwitzerlandTeam event
2012
3 victories
29 Jan 2012 St. Moritz, SwitzerlandSuper combined
2012
3 victories
18 Feb 2012 Sochi, RussiaDownhill
2012
3 victories
10 Mar 2012 Åre, SwedenSlalom
201310 Nov 2012 Levi, FinlandSlalom
2014
3 victories
6 Dec 2013 Lake Louise, CanadaDownhill
2014
3 victories
7 Dec 2013 Lake Louise, CanadaDownhill
2014
3 victories
24 Jan 2014 Cortina d'Ampezzo, ItalyDownhill

World Championship results

Olympic results