Athlete Bios
Alpine Skiing
Austria's Raich carries country's hopes to 2010
Last Updated: Friday, February 5, 2010 | 12:21 PM ET
New York Times for CBC Sports
Benjamin Raich of Austria in action during a men's giant slalom World Cup race on January 29, 2010. (Francis Bompard/Getty Images)The Austrian national ski team has lost its most visible male and female stars to retirement — Hermann Maier and Renate Goetschl. Between them, they accounted for six Olympic medals and 100 victories on the World Cup circuit.
But while the star power on Austria’s team has diminished somewhat, expectations have not.
“Skiing is No. 1 in Austria, and people expect an Austrian to be on top of the podium,” two-time Olympic champion Benjamin Raich once told reporters. The maxim remains true. Raich himself will carry a country’s hopes and anticipation on his shoulders at the Vancouver Games. He won the slalom and the giant slalom at the 2006 Turin Games and finished second in the overall World Cup standings during the 2008-09 season. “I do not have to prove to anyone anymore that I know ski racing,” Raich, 31, told reporters.
His technical proficiency has sometimes drawn comparisons to Ingemar Stenmark, the great Swedish skier of the 1970s and ’80s. Raich has also shown tremendous range in his ability. Not only did he win a bronze medal in the slalom at the 2002 Salt Lake Games, but Raich also took third in the combined event, which includes a downhill run and two slalom runs. Raich won the overall World Cup title during the 2005-06 season and has finished second four times. He has said that while he does not train or perform much differently from other skiers, his most vital asset might be his calm assurance, explaining, “I have things well under control on the mental side.”
His regularly high placement in the overall World Cup standings “shows that you are constant over two or three disciplines, and that is something that is important to me,” he has said.
Known on the circuit as Benji or Benni, Raich has possessed this consistency since his teenage years, when he won the junior world championship five times. He might have won a third gold medal in Turin, having led the combined event heading into the final slalom run, only to ski off the course. The American Ted Ligety prevailed instead.
In Vancouver, Raich could become the first man ever to win two Olympic gold medals in the slalom. Only Alberto Tomba of Italy (1988 and 1992) has won twice in the giant slalom. Austrian men (Maier, Stephan Ebertharter and Raich) have won the last three Olympic giant slalom races.
Raich’s fiancée, Marlies Schild, is also a top Austrian skier and Olympic medallist. She won silver in the combined event at the 2006 Turin Games and bronze in the slalom. She returns this year after missing last season with a broken leg.
