Pirmin Zurbriggen (born 4 February 1963) is a former

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 ...

alpine ski racer from

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. One of the most successful ski racers ever, he won the overall World Cup title four times, an Olympic gold medal in 1988 in Downhill, and nine World Championships medals (4 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze).

Biography

Zurbriggen was born in Saas-Almagell in the canton of

Valais Valais ( , ; ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of thirteen districts and its capital and largest city is Sion, Switzer ...

, the son of Alois, an innkeeper, and Ida. His father competed as a ski racer in local competitions in the 1940s and 1950s, but quit the sport after his brother was killed in a training accident. Zurbriggen made his World Cup debut in January 1981, a month before his 18th birthday. With his victory in the downhill at Kitzbühel in January

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

at age 21, he became the first to win World Cup races in all five disciplines. (The fifth discipline,

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 ...

, was added in December

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

.) Incidentally

Marc Girardelli Marc Girardelli (born 18 July 1963) is an Austrian–Luxembourgish former alpine ski racer, a five-time World Cup overall champion who excelled in all five alpine disciplines. Biography Born in Lustenau, Austria into a family originally from ...

, the second to enter this exclusive circle, won his first downhill race four years later at the same venue. Zurbriggen retired from international competition after having won the

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

World Cup overall title – his fourth, which was then the most overall titles won by a single racer, reached only once before by Gustav Thöni in

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

. Again it was Marc Girardelli who followed him in 1991 with a fourth overall title, and Girardelli added another in 1993 to become the only male racer with five overall titles in World Cup history. Zurbriggen grew up in the remote village of Saas-Almagell, near Saas-Fee. With a total of 40 World Cup victories over nine years and five gold medals, he belongs to the "All-Time Greats" of alpine skiing, ranking fifth in all-time wins and having 169 Top Ten finishes. Zurbriggen left the World Cup tour as a hero to start a family; he was married the previous summer (30 June 1989) to Monika Julen (the sister of his best friend on the Swiss ski team, Max Julen), with whom he has five children: Elia, Pirmin Jr., Maria, Alain and Leonie, who have all competed in ski racing. He is the older brother of Heidi Zurbriggen, a winner of three World Cup downhill races, and a distant cousin of Silvan Zurbriggen. Zurbriggen now runs the "Wellness Hotel Pirmin Zurbriggen" with his parents in Saas-Almagell and another, "Apparthotel Zurbriggen," in

Zermatt Zermatt (, ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Visp (district), Visp in the German language, German-speaking section of the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It has a year-round population of about 5,800 and is cl ...

. In addition, after his World Cup career had ended he partnered with Authier Ski company on a line of signature skis.

World Cup results

Season standings

Season titles

*11 titles (4 overall, 2 DH, 4 SG, 1 GS) plus ''unofficial'' 3 K

Race victories

*40 wins (10 DH, 10 SG, 7 GS, 11 SC, 2 SL) *83 podiums (40 wins, 26 second place, 17 third place)

World championship results

Olympic results

References

External links

*
Pirmin Zurbriggen
World Cup standings at the International Ski Federation * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zurbriggen, Pirmin 1963 births Living people People from Visp (district) Swiss male alpine skiers Olympic alpine skiers for Switzerland Alpine skiers at the 1984 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1988 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Switzerland Olympic bronze medalists for Switzerland Olympic medalists in alpine skiing FIS Alpine Ski World Cup champions Medalists at the 1988 Winter Olympics Recipients of the Olympic Order Skiers from Valais 20th-century Swiss sportsmen