Showing 53 results

authority records
Skier

Klammer, Franz

  • AT-KF001
  • Person
  • December 3, 1953 -

Franz Klammer is an Austrian retired alpine ski racer. He dominated the World Cup downhill event for four consecutive seasons from 1975 to 1978, winning 25 downhills in all and holding the record for the most victories on the Kitzbühel course. He also won gold in the downhill at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck. He was born on December 3, 1953 in Mooswald, Austria. Born into a farming family, Klammer, like many alpine farm boys, skied to school each day in winter. His home village did not have any ski lifts, so as a child he climbed up the pasture behind his house to ski downhill. Klammer started racing at the relatively late age of 14, competing in the winter whilst working on the family farm during the summer after he dropped out of school. He had a tough struggle to make the Austrian ski team, traditionally dominated by the states of Tyrol and Salzburg. He made his World Cup debut at the age of 19 in 1972 at the Val Gardena downhill: he finished ninth in the training run for the race, but could only manage 32nd place on race day due to nerves. He spent 13 seasons on the World Cup circuit, from December 1972 to March 1985. Klammer has been married to his wife, Eva, since 1979: the couple met in 1975 when he was in Tunisia at a fitness camp with the Austrian ski team. They have two daughters, Sophie and Stephanie. Klammer won every downhill in the 1975 season, except Megève, where one of his skis came off. In the Olympic test event at Patscherkofel at Innsbruck in January 1975, Klammer defeated the defending Olympic champion Bernhard Russi of Switzerland, the runner-up, by nearly a half-second. Entering the 1976 Winter Olympics, the 22-year-old Klammer was the favourite to take the gold medal in the downhill at Innsbruck in his native Austria. He was the defending World Cup downhill champion and had won the three previous downhills in January at Wengen, Morzine, and Kitzbühel, and also the previous year's race on the same Patscherkofel course. Starting in 15th position, Klammer was the last of the top seeds and knew that Russi had set a blistering pace to lead by over a half-second. Klammer took heavy risks on the treacherous piste, skied on the edge of disaster and won by 0.33 seconds to the delight of the Austrian fans. Although he dominated the downhill event in World Cup competition, the overall title remained elusive, because the technical specialists had two events in which to earn points (slalom and giant slalom), whereas a speed specialist had only one. The second speed event, the Super-G, was not a World Cup event until December 1982, at the twilight of Klammer's World Cup career. At the end of the 1975 season, despite having won 8 of 9 downhills, he finished third for the overall World Cup title. The final event was a parallel slalom and Klammer lost in the first round. Klammer finished fourth overall in 1976, third in 1977, and fifth in 1978. Klammer won the World Cup downhill title five times: 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1983 – twice more than the next best downhiller. After his fourth consecutive season title in downhill in 1978, he began a prolonged slump until the end of the 1981 season. He may have been affected by his brother's spinal cord injury in a downhill race Unable to make the four-member Austrian downhill team for the 1980 Olympics, Klammer could not defend his Olympic title at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. Rather than retire, he worked long and hard at a comeback. Finally in December 1981, he won at Val-d'Isère. The following season he regained the World Cup Downhill title, his fifth, followed by the 1984 victory at Kitzbuehel, his fourth on the Hahnenkamm. At the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo, (then Yugoslavia, now Bosnia), Klammer finished tenth on at Bjelašnica. At his peak (Wengen 1976 to Wengen 1977), Klammer won ten consecutive downhills, including the pressure-laden win at the 1976 Olympics. He won 8 of 9 during the 1975 season and also won 19 of 23, 20 of 26 and 21 of 29 downhills. His career total is 26 downhill wins: 25 World Cup and 1 Olympic. His final World Cup race was in March 1985 at Aspen, CO. He retired from international competition at age 31. Klammer finished with 26 World Cup victories, 45 podiums and 87 top ten finishes (71 downhill, 5 combined, 11 giant slalom). Immediately after his retirement from alpine competition, Klammer took up motor racing, and was soon involved in touring car racing, driving Mercedes-Benz saloons all over Europe and racing professionally as far away as Australia. In 1990, Klammer won a round of the prestigious European Touring Car Championship. Inspired by his younger brother Klaus, who was paralyzed from the waist down after a crash in a downhill at the age of 16, Klammer has established the Franz Klammer Foundation, which benefits seriously injured athletes.

Jarvis, Beau

  • CA-BC-JB005
  • Person
  • 1974-

Beau Jarvis is a Canadian former alpine ski racer and owner of Wesgroup Properties in Vancouver. He was born in 1974 and grew up in Whistler. As a kid, he would spend winters skiing and summers skateboarding. He competed in alpine skiing in the mid to late 1990s. After retiring from ski racing, he completed a Commerce degree at Royal Roads University near Victoria, BC. From 2001 to 2005, he worked for Remax Sea to Sky Real Estate in Whistler. In 2005, he began working at Omni in Vancouver in acquisitions and development until he was promoted to vice president in 2007. He worked in this position until 2014, when he became senior vice president of development for Wesgroup Properties. In 2017, he was promoted to executive vice president, and in 2019, he became president of Wesgroup Properties. He is the man behind the Whistler community philanthropy project Old School Initiative, which helps sponsor and provide support to local athletes and sports groups that need financial help to succeed in their respective sports.

Janyk, Britt

  • CA-BC-JB004
  • Person
  • May 21, 1980 -

Britt Janyk is a retired Canadian alpine skier who specialized in downhill, super G, alpine combined, and giant slalom. She is the daughter of former Whistler councillor and national ski racer Andree Janyk and Bill Janyk, and the brother of World Cup alpine skier Michael Janyk. She also has a sister named Stephanie. She was born in North Vancouver on May 21, 1980. She learned to ski on Whistler Mountain in her early childhood and joined the Whistler Mountain Ski Club as a teenager in 1996, when her family moved there from West Vancouver in 1995. Janyk debuted in the World Cup in 1999. She started out with slalom and giant slalom, but after nearly losing her place on the Canadian National Alpine Ski Team, switched to speed events and excelled. During her career as a skier for Alpine Canada, she scored 18 Top 10 finishes in World Cup Competitions, including two podium finishes in downhill races. Both of these - a first place at Aspen and a third at Lake Louise - came in the 2007/2008 season, during which Janyk placed third overall. Her Olympic debut was at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games in her hometown of Whistler; she received a sixth place finish in the downhill. Janyk retired from professional skiing the following year, but remains active in the sports world. She provided commentary for the 2012/2013 Alpine Skiing World Cup through Eurosport and the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympic skiing event through the Olympic Broadcasting Service. She has been an ambassador for Right to Play since 2008, a participant in Ski With an Olympian since 2012, as well as a salesperson at Peak Performance and U12 Ski Coach with the Whistler Mountain Ski Club since 2015. She was also a board member of the Kelty Patrick Dennehy Foundation for eight months in 2011/2012.

Irwin, Dave

  • CA-ON-ID001
  • Person
  • July 12, 1954 -

Dave Irwin is a Canadian former alpine ski racer and member of the "Crazy Canucks", a group of Canadian downhill racers who rose to prominence on the World Cup circuit in the late 1970s. He was born on July 12, 1954 in Thunder Bay, ON to former alpine ski racer Bill Irwin. He learned to ski at the age of 3 at his father's ski resort, Loch Lomond Ski Area, and was chosen for the Canadian National Ski Team at 17. Although his original area of expertise was the slalom - he won the 1972 Can-Am Slalom title, earning him that year's NOVA Cup as Canada's most improved skier - Irwin later switched to downhill. His first World Cup appearance was at Schladming, Austria in 1973; he came in 14th. Two years later, again at Schladming, he became the second Canadian male to win a World Cup downhill event. Other first-place wins for Irwin included the 1979 Europa Cup downhill event in Verbier, Switzerland and the 1980 US National Championships. He represented Canada in two Winter Olympics - Innsbruck 1976, in which he finished 8th, and Lake Placid 1980, in which he finished 11th. He won bronze at the 1982 World Cup Downhill in Whistler, retiring following month. Overall, he finished in the Top 15 in seventeen different races over his career. Irwin sustained many injuries during his career, the first being a concussion which sent him to the hospital for five days before the 1976 Olympics. Another severe concussion kept him out of the competition for almost two years prior to the 1980 Olympics. He retired from active competition in 1981, but continued to ski for the next two decades. After his retirement, he sustained a traumatic brain injury while training for an Export A Skier-Cross event in 2001. This put him in a coma for three days and resulted in severe memory loss. Irwin and his fiancee, Lynne Harrison, later created the Dave Irwin Foundation for Brain Injury. This organization was dissolved in 2016. Irwin received a Sport Excellence Award from the Government of Canada at the 1982 Tribute of Champions, and a John Semmelink Memorial Award from the Canadian Ski and Snowboard Association the same year. He was inducted into the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame in 1992. In 2010, he helped carry the Olympic torch as it made its way to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. He currently lives in Canmore, Alberta.

Gentina, Thierry

  • FR-GT001
  • Person
  • 1968-

Thierry Gentina is a French retired alpine ski racer. He was born in France in 1968, and competed on the FIS World Cup circuit between 1986 and 1996. His best result was placing 10th in the Super G at Val d'Isere in 1992.

Furuseth, Ole Christian

  • NO-FOC001
  • Person
  • January 7, 1967 -

Ole Christian Furuseth is a retired Norwegian alpine skier who was active between 1985 and 2002. Born in Oslo, Norway, he represented the skiing club Ullensaker SK. His first international competition was the 1985 Junior World Championships, in which he finished eleventh in downhill and nineteenth in giant slalom. He made his World Cup debut in December 1986, finishing tenth in the slalom race in Madonna di Campiglio. He did not compete in any World Cup races in the 1987 calendar year, but returned in the late 1987/1988 season with a sixth and fifteenth place in Bad Kleinkirchheim and Oppdal, respectively, In the 1988–89 season Furuseth performed consistently well. He opened with a ninth place in Sestriere in December, then improved gradually until reaching the podium for the first time, with a second place from Adelboden in January. He also won the slalom run in the Alpine Combined Event at the FIS Alpine Skiing World Championships. In Furano, he finished second in the giant slalom, winning the slalom race two days later. One week later in Shigakogen, he won the giant slalom race and finished second in the slalom. As a result, he won the Giant Slalom Cup that year, though jointly with Pirmin Zurbriggen. In the Slalom Cup he finished third, and in the overall standings he finished fourth. He also competed at the 1989 World Championships, placing eighth in the giant slalom and sixth in the slalom. He was given the Norwegian Sportsperson of the Year award of 1989. The 1989/1990 season started equally well, with two-second places in August in Thredbo. He then won a giant slalom competition in Park City in November. Although that would be his only victory that season, he became runner-up in three further races, including the super-G race in January in Les Menuires. He again won the Giant Slalom Cup, finished second in the overall standings and second in the Slalom Cup. In the 1990/1991 season, he won competitions in Madonna di Campiglio and Kranjska Gora in December, and recorded three-second places, only one of them in giant slalom. Again he finished second in the Slalom Cup. At the 1991 World Championships, he won the bronze medal in slalom and placed fourth in both giant slalom and super-G. The 1991/1992 season saw him win a giant slalom race in Adelboden in January, second in a combined race in Garmisch-Partenkirchen the week before, third in a slalom race in Sestriere in December. At the 1992 Winter Olympics, he finished fifth in the giant slalom, fourth in the super-G, and seventh in the combined race. The 1992/93 season saw him place twice among the top ten towards the end of the season. At the 1993 World Championships, he finished fourteenth in slalom and tenth in giant slalom. In the 1993/1994 World Cup circuit, he placed mostly in the 20th–30th range, with results as bad as a 61st place in Val d'Isère in December. However, he still earned a third place in Sestriere and a second place in Kranjska Gora in January. In the 1994/1995 season, he achieved two third places in slalom in Kitzbühel in January and Furano in February; he then won his last race for the season, in Bormio in March. In the 1995/1996 World Cup he was disqualified in most of his races, failing to reach the podium. He participated in the 1996 World Championships, postponed from 1995, and finished seventh in the slalom race. He performed slightly better in 1996/1997, with one third place in slalom in Shigakogen in March and a fourth place at the 1997 World Championships as highlights. From the 1997/1998 season, Furuseth competed exclusively in slalom. He opened with a thirteenth place in Park City in November, but improved gradually until reaching third in Kitzbühel in January. Then, in February he won a silver medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics, only defeated by fellow countryman Hans Petter Buraas. A World Cup victory in Yongpyong in March rounded off a successful season. A mediocre 1998/1999 season followed, but in 1999/2000 he fully reinvigorated his career, achieving two fourth places, one third places, three second places and one victory in the World Cup. The victory was his last race of the season, in Bormio in March. He came out of that season with a second place in the Slalom Cup. In the 2000/2001 season, he achieved a fifth place in Åre in February as his best World Cup result; he also he finished eleventh at the 2001 World Championships. Following the 2001/2002 season, where he only reached the top ten once during the season in the 2002 Winter Olympics, Furuseth retired from alpine ski racing. Throughout his career Furuseth won 6 World Cup victories in slalom and 3 in giant slalom, as well as the silver medal in slalom at the 1998 Winter Olympic Games. Since retiring he has worked in construction and as a real estate developer at the Kvitfjell Ski Resort. Furuseth is married, and resides in Oslo. His hobbies include boat trips and surfing.

Fivel, Christophe

  • FR-FC001
  • Person
  • September 22, 1967 -

Christophe Fivel is a French retired alpine ski racer who competed on the FIS World Cup circuit in the 1980s and 1990s. He was born on September 22, 1967 in St-Jean-de-Maurienne, France. His personal best was achieving 4th in the World Cup Downhill at Val d'Isere, France in 1990.

Duvillard, Adrien

  • FR-DA001
  • Person
  • February 8, 1969 -

Adrien Duvillard is a retired French alpine skier who competed in the 1992 and 1998 Winter Olympics and the 1993 Labatt Blue Men's Downhill and Super G at Whistler Mountain.

Wong, Wayne

  • CA-BC-WW001
  • Person
  • b. October 17, 1950

Wayne Wong is a Canadian ski champion and the innovator of freestyle/'hotdog' skiing. He is widely considered to be one of the most influential skiers of the 20th century.

Born in Vancouver, Wong had his first ski lesson at the age of 11. In 1971, as a ski school instructor at Mount Seymour, he was persuaded by friends to enter the inaugural National Championships of Exhibition Skiing at Waterville Valley, New Hampshire. Wong won third place, launching a career that would see him receive international acclaim. He pioneered an unrestricted, inventive new style of skiing, characterized by daring stunts such as the "Wong Banger" and "Wongmill."

Wong was a member of the K2 and Salomon Freestyle Ski Teams from 1972 to 1976, achieving numerous victories. He was the Europa Cup Freestyle Champion in 1973, the Rocky Mountain Freestyle Skiing Champion and the Japanese International Freestyle Skiing Champion in 1975, and the World Powder 8 Champion in 1984, 1986, and 1987. Wong was also a Level 4 Certified member of the Canadian Ski Instructors Alliance and served as a member of the CSIA's Interski team in Czechoslovakia in 1975. He served as the director of the freestyle section of the Toni Sailer/Dave Murray Summer Ski Camp in Whistler from the early 1970s until the 1990s. He has appeared in countless ski movies and was a torch bearer for the 2002 Winter Games.

Award and honours received by Wayne Wong include: named Skiing Magazine's Freestyle Skier of the Year for 1972, named one of Skiing Magazine's 25 Most Influential Skiers of All Time in 1999, voted as one of Ski magazine's Top 100 Skiers of All Time in 2000, received Guardian Angel Award for his dedication to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in 2004, named one of Powder Magazine's Top 48 Greatest Skiers of Our Time in 2006, received Frances Williams Preston Award from the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Research Center in 2008, and was inducted into the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame in 2009 and the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in 2012.

Percy, Karen

  • CA-AB-PK001
  • Person
  • b. October 10, 1966

Karen Percy is a retired Canadian skier from Edmonton, Alberta. At the height of her career she was one of the world's top female alpine skiers, with a total of 25 top ten World Cup finishes, four World Championships, and 7 consecutive Canadian National Championships. She won bronze in Downhill and Super G at the 1988 Olympic Winter Games in Calgary, for which she was Canada's flag bearer at the closing ceremony. She became a Member of the Order of Canada the same year, and was inducted into the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame in 1992.

Results 1 to 10 of 53