Alberto Tomba

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Alberto Tomba : biography

19 December 1966 –

At the 1996 World Championships, Tomba finally added the final missing pieces to his trophy case, winning two gold medals at Sierra Nevada, Spain. His GS victory came thanks to a second-run rally from 0.81 seconds behind.

After the 1996 World Championships, Tomba began contemplating retirement. He decided to come back for one more World Championship, held in 1997 on his home snow in Sestriere. He was disqualified in the giant slalom and had a disappointing first run in the slalom, but an excellent second run was good enough for his last major medal, a bronze. He decided to continue competing for one more year.

Tomba’s performance at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano was a sign that his career was winding to a close: for the first time in his Olympic career, he failed to medal after crashing in giant slalom. He suffered a painful injury and was not able to start in the second slalom run after losing much time in the first leg.

Alberto Tomba retired at the end of the 1998 season, but not before winning a last World Cup race at the Finals at Crans-Montana where he grabbed the slalom, becoming the only alpine male skier to have won at least one World Cup race per year for 11 consecutive seasons. Swedish Ingemar Stenmark won numerous World Cup races from December 1974 to March 1984, but failed to do so during the 1985 season, dominated by Marc Girardelli from Luxembourg and Pirmin Zurbriggen of Switzerland.

Medals

Winter Olympic Games

  • 1988 – gold in giant slalom, gold in slalom at Calgary, Canada (Nakiska).
  • 1992 – gold in giant slalom, silver in slalom at Albertville, France (Val d’Isère).
  • 1994 – silver in slalom at Lillehammer, Norway (Hafjell).

Alpine World Ski Championships

  • 1987 – bronze in giant slalom at Crans Montana, Switzerland.
  • 1996 – gold in giant slalom, gold in slalom at Sierra Nevada, Spain.
  • 1997 – bronze in slalom at Sestriere, Italy

Alpine skiing World Cup

  • 50 victories (35 in slalom, 15 in giant slalom), including 7 consecutive slalom wins in the 1995 season.
  • 28 second-place finishes
  • 11 third-place finishes