Carole Merle (; born 24 January 1964) is a former French Alpine skier. A specialist of

Giant slalom Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding competitive discipline. It involves racing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in Slalom skiing, slalom but less than in Super-G. Giant sl ...

and

Super-G Super giant slalom, or super-G, is a racing discipline of alpine skiing. Along with the faster downhill, it is regarded as a "speed" event, in contrast to the technical events giant slalom and slalom. It debuted as an official World Cup event ...

, she won 22

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 name is ...

races, 6 World Cup season titles and 1

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 ...

gold medal.

Skiing career

A native of , a ski resort of Enchastrayes commune where her parents ran a hotel, Merle learned to ski at a very young age. She took part in her first competition as a six-year-old, and made her World Cup debut at 18. On 23 January 1983, she took her first World Cup podium with a third-place finish in giant slalom at St. Gervais. But it took another few years for her to reach her full potential. Her first World Cup win came on 6 January 1988 at

Tignes Tignes () is a commune in the Tarentaise Valley, in the Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France, known for the highest skiable area and the longest ski season in Europe. It is located in the Savoie region with good ...

. The following season saw her bag the World cup title in Super-G, finishing 4 points ahead of 1988 Olympic champion Sigrid Wolf. Merle went on to win the Super-G season title 4 years in a row (1989–1992), a feat only equalled in later years by Katja Seizinger of Germany (1993–1996) and

Lindsey Vonn Lindsey Caroline Vonn ( ; born October 18, 1984) is an American FIS Alpine Ski World Cup, World Cup Alpine skiing, alpine ski racer. She won four World Cup overall championships – third amongst female skiers to Annemarie Moser-Pröll and Mika ...

of the USA (2009–2012). In addition, Merle won the giant slalom World Cup in 1992 and 1993. These two same years, she finished 2nd (behind Austria's Petra Kronberger) and 3rd in the World Cup overall standings. At the 1989 World Championships in

Vail Vail is a home rule municipality in Eagle County, Colorado, United States. The population of the town was 4,835 in 2020. Home to Vail Ski Resort, the largest ski mountain in Colorado, the town is known for its hotels, dining, and for the nume ...

she won a silver medal in the giant slalom, two years later at the 1991 World Championships in Saalbach she won another medal and at the 1993 World Championships in

Morioka is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Iwate Prefecture located in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. On 1 August 2023, the city had an estimated population of 283,981 in 132,719 households, and a population density of . The total area of t ...

she finally won the gold medal in the giant slalom. At the 1992 Olympics in

Albertville Albertville (; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile'') is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in Southeastern France. It is best k ...

she won a silver medal in the Super-G event.

Later life

Merle retired at the end of the 1994 ski season. During her career, she had earnings of more than 20 million French francs, which an uncle was managing on her behalf. In 1997, she made headlines when she publicly announced she had lost everything and had accumulated more than 70 million in debts, accusing her uncle of mismanaging her fortune. She later settled away from the ski slopes, in a

Camargue The Camargue (, also , , ; ) is a coastal region in southern France located south of the city of Arles, between the Mediterranean Sea and the two arms of the Rhône river delta. The eastern arm is called the Grand Rhône; the western is the ''P ...

farmhouse, to pursue her passion for horses. In a 2012 interview for French newspaper ''

Le Dauphiné libéré ''Le Dauphiné libéré'' is a provincial daily French newspaper known for its emphasis on local news and events. The paper is published in Grenoble, France. History and profile Founded in 1945, it takes the name from the former province of D ...

'', she claimed she had not skied for at least six years, but added she would never miss a ski World Cup on TV.

World Cup results

Season standings

* 6 titles – (4 SG, 2 GS)

Race victories

*22 wins – (12 SG, 10 GS) *44 podiums, 88 top tens

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Merle, Carole 1964 births Living people Sportspeople from Alpes-de-Haute-Provence Skiers from Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur French female alpine skiers Olympic alpine skiers for France Olympic silver medalists for France Merle, Carole Merle, Carole Merle, Carole Merle, Carole Olympic medalists in alpine skiing FIS Alpine Ski World Cup champions Medalists at the 1992 Winter Olympics 20th-century French sportswomen