Marlies Raich (née Schild, born 31 May 1981) is a retired
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
n
World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
alpine ski racer. She specializes in the technical disciplines of
slalom and
giant slalom. Schild won four
Olympic medals, with silvers in the combined (2006) and slalom (2010, 2014) and a bronze in slalom (2006). She has seven
World Championship
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
medals and has won five
World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
season titles.
Schild completed her World Cup career with 37 wins, all but two in slalom. She retired from international competition at age 33 in September 2014.
Ski racing career
Born in
Admont
Admont is a town in the Austrian state of Styria. It is historically most notable for Admont Abbey, a monastery founded in 1074.
Gesäuse National Park, in which Admont lies, is an area of outstanding beauty. The town is situated in the middle of ...
,
Styria, Schild initially preferred the
downhill
Downhill may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Downhill'' (1927 film), a British film by Alfred Hitchcock
* ''Downhill'' (2014 film), a British comedy directed by James Rouse
* ''Downhill'' (2016 film), a Chilean thriller directed by Patrici ...
event. However, by the age of 19 she had already undergone five knee surgeries, prompting her to concentrate on the less dangerous
slalom and
giant slalom competitions.
Since
2004, she has finished every season (except
2009 when out with injury) among the top 3 in the World Cup slalom standings, and won the slalom trophy in
2007,
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
and
2011. Her best result in the overall competition was a second place in 2007, when she lost the overall trophy only in the last two races (slalom and giant slalom) against compatriot
Nicole Hosp
Nicole Hosp (; born 6 November 1983) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Austria. She competed in all five disciplines and was a world champion, three-time Olympic medalist, and an overall World Cup champion.
Career
Born in Ehenbichl, ...
, after having taken the lead with a second place in downhill and a third place in super-G on the first two days of the World Cup final 2007 in Lenzerheide.
While training for the giant slalom in October
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
, Schild fell and sustained a
comminuted fracture
A bone fracture (abbreviated FRX or Fx, Fx, or #) is a medical condition in which there is a partial or complete break in the continuity of any bone in the body. In more severe cases, the bone may be broken into several fragments, known as a '' ...
in her left
tibia
The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...
and
fibula
The fibula or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity i ...
, as well as a fractured tibial head. This severe injury sidelined Schild for the entire
2009 season. A few weeks after her return to competition in
Levi
Levi (; ) was, according to the Book of Genesis, the third of the six sons of Jacob and Leah (Jacob's third son), and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Levi (the Levites, including the Kohanim) and the great-grandfather of Aaron, Moses and ...
in November
2009, she celebrated her first victory after the injury, winning the slalom in
Lienz
Lienz (; Southern Bavarian: ''Lianz'') is a medieval town in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It is the administrative centre of the Lienz district, which covers all of East Tyrol. The municipality also includes the cadastral subdivision of ''Pat ...
on 29 December. Starting with this win, Schild reached the podium in all FIS slalom races she finished for over two years, including the
2010 Olympics
)''
, nations = 82
, athletes = 2,626
, events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines)
, opening = February 12, 2010
, closing = February 28, 2010
, opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean
, cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...
in Vancouver (silver medal) and the
2011 World Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (gold medal). Her podium-run ended on 10 March 2012, when she finished 6th at the slalom at
Åre
Åre () is a locality and one of the leading Scandinavian ski resorts situated in Åre Municipality, Jämtland County, Sweden with 3,200 inhabitants in 2018. It is, however, not the seat of the municipality, which is Järpen. 25% of the local eco ...
. Schild has not competed in downhill or super-G since her injury. (Ref. Bio Patrick Lang)
After Schild tore ligaments in her right knee on 20 December 2012 in Sweden, it was announced that she would miss most of the
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...
season, including the
2013 World Championships in
Schladming
Schladming is a small former mining town in the northwest of the Austrian state of Styria that is now a popular tourist destination. It has become a large winter-sports resort and has held various skiing competitions, including most notably the F ...
.
On 13 February, Schild announced her plans to compete in the
slalom three days later, only 58 days after the injury.
She managed a top ten result with a ninth-place finish.
With 35 World Cup victories in slalom, Schild lead the career list in that discipline until
Mikaela Shiffrin
Mikaela Pauline Shiffrin (born March 13, 1995) is an American two-time Olympic Gold Medalist and World Cup alpine skier. She is a four-time Overall World Cup champion, a four-time world champion in slalom, and a six-time winner of the World Cup ...
surpassed her on December 29, 2018. She has at least two World Cup podiums in each of the five alpine disciplines, with over fifty in slalom.
World championships
At the
2003 World Championships in
St. Moritz, Switzerland, she placed second in the slalom behind
Janica Kostelić
Janica Kostelić (; born 5 January 1982) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer and four-time Olympic gold medalist from Croatia. In addition to the Olympics, she won five gold medals at the World Championships. In World Cup competition, she w ...
, and in
2005 at
Bormio
Bormio ( lmo, Bormi, rm, italic=yes, , german: Worms im Veltlintal) is a town and ''comune'' with a population of about 4,100 located in the Province of Sondrio, Lombardy region of the Alps in northern Italy.
The centre of the upper Valtellina ...
, Italy, she won a bronze medal in the
combined, behind Janica Kostelić and
Anja Pärson. In
2007 at
Åre
Åre () is a locality and one of the leading Scandinavian ski resorts situated in Åre Municipality, Jämtland County, Sweden with 3,200 inhabitants in 2018. It is, however, not the seat of the municipality, which is Järpen. 25% of the local eco ...
, Sweden, Schild won silver in the slalom and bronze in the combined. In team events she won gold 2007 in Åre and silver in
2011 at
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
Olympics
At the
2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Schild won a silver medal in
combined and a bronze medal in the
slalom; in the
giant slalom, she placed 17th. In
2010 in Vancouver, Schild improved to another silver in the
slalom at
Whistler and she repeated this in 2014 in the
slalom at
Sochi. She also competed in
2002 in Salt Lake, but did not finish the
slalom at
Deer Valley
Deer Valley is an alpine ski resort in the Wasatch Range, located east of Salt Lake City, in Park City, Utah, United States. The resort, known for its upscale amenities, is consistently ranked among the top ski resorts in North America.
Deer ...
.
Personal
Schild is married to Austrian ski racer
Benjamin Raich
Benjamin Raich (born 28 February 1978 in Arzl im Pitztal, Tyrol) is an Austrian former World Cup champion alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist. With 14 medals won at Winter Olympics and World Championships, 36 World Cup race victories (in ...
.
Her sister
Bernadette
Bernadette is a French name, a female form of the name Bernard, which means "brave bear". Notable persons with the name include: People
* Bernadette (singer) (born 1959), Dutch singer
* Bernadette Allen (born 1956), American foreign service of ...
(b. 1990) is also a World Cup racer;
they made the same podium twice during the
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
season, at
Courchevel
Courchevel () is a French Alps ski resort. It is a part of Les Trois Vallées, the largest linked ski areas in the world. Courchevel also refers to the towns of Courchevel 1300 (Le Praz), Courchevel 1550, Courchevel 1650 (Moriond), and Cou ...
in December and
Kranjska Gora
Kranjska Gora (; german: Kronau) is a town in northwestern Slovenia, on the Sava Dolinka River in the Upper Carniola region, close to the Austrian and Italian borders. It is the seat of the Municipality of Kranjska Gora.
Name
Kranjska Gora wa ...
in February.
World Cup results
Season titles
* 5 titles – (4
slalom, 1
combined)
Season standings
Race victories
* 37 wins – (1
giant slalom, 35
slalom, 1
combined)
World Championship results
Olympic results
References
External links
*
*
Austrian Ski team (ÖSV)– Marlies Schild – '
Atomic Skis– athletes – Marlies Schild -->
* '
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schild, Marlies
1981 births
Austrian female alpine skiers
Alpine skiers at the 2002 Winter Olympics
Alpine skiers at the 2006 Winter Olympics
Alpine skiers at the 2010 Winter Olympics
Alpine skiers at the 2014 Winter Olympics
Olympic alpine skiers of Austria
Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics
Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics
Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics
Olympic medalists in alpine skiing
Olympic silver medalists for Austria
Olympic bronze medalists for Austria
FIS Alpine Ski World Cup champions
People from Liezen District
Living people
Sportspeople from Styria
20th-century Austrian women
21st-century Austrian women