Thomas Grandi (born 27 December 1972 in

Bolzano Bolzano ( ; ; or ) is the capital city of South Tyrol (officially the province of Bolzano), Northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third largest in historical Tyrol. The ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

) is a Canadian retired

alpine skier Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether ...

. He specialized in technical skiing

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 slalom.

Skiing career

Grandi started in the

Alpine Skiing World Cup The FIS Alpine Ski World Cup is the top international circuit of alpine skiing competitions, launched in 1966 by a group of ski racing friends and experts which included French journalist Serge Lang (skiing), Serge Lang and the alpine ski team d ...

in the 1992-93 season. His first top ten finish in the World Cup came in December 1996 where he finished in 10th position in the

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 ...

in Alta Badia,

. In the 1997-98 World Cup season, he had his first top three finish when he finished in third place in a Giant Slalom race in Park City. Grandi's first wins in the World Cup both came in December 2004, when he won Giant Slaloms in Alta Badia and Flachau. The victory at Alta Badia made Grandi the first Canadian male skier to win a World Cup technical race. He participated at the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 (; Gosiute dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; ; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), were an international wi ...

, finishing 12th place in the Giant Slalom and 16th place in the slalom. He also participated in the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics (), officially the XX Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter O ...

. Following the 2006 Olympic Winter Games, Grandi posted three successive top three finishes in World Cup slalom, moving his career total to 9 World Cup podiums, ranking 3rd amongst Canadian men. In March 2007 after a 14-year career with the Canadian ski team to spend more time with family. In July 2008, Grandi announced his return to competitive skiing as he hopes to earn a podium finish at the

2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. On March 16, 2009, Grandi decided his commitment to his family outweighed his desire to continue his competitive skiing career and announced his retirement once and for all.

Personal life

Grandi's wife is Canadian cross-country skier Sara Renner, who captured the silver medal in Turin 2006 Olympics in the team sprint with Beckie Scott. Together they now own a popular Boutique Hotel in Canmore, Alberta, the Paintbox Lodge.

World cup victories

References

External links

* * * * * 1972 births Living people Skiers from Bolzano Olympic alpine skiers for Canada Canadian male alpine skiers Alpine skiers at the 1994 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Italian emigrants to Canada 20th-century Canadian sportsmen 21st-century Canadian sportsmen {{Canada-alpine-skiing-bio-stub