Tina Maze : biography
Tina Maze (born 2 May 1983) is a Slovenian World Cup alpine ski racer. She is one of just 6 women who have won in all five World Cup events and one of three women who have won in all five disciplines in a single season. Maze has 22 World Cup victories and is the current world champion in Super-G. She was the world champion in giant slalom in 2011, and won the overall World Cup in the 2013 season. In this season, she listed 11 victories and won a record number of World Cup points – 2414,http://www.rtvslo.si/sport/zimski-sporti/tina-maze-z-11-zmago-postavila-piko-na-i-nori-sezoni/304639 beating the previous record of Hermann Maier of 2000 points from the 2000 season.New York Daily News, , Nathaniel Vinton, 16 March 2013 In that season, she won the Super-G and Giant Slalom titles, finished first in the Combined event (although no globe was awarded) and finished second in Slalom and Downhill. Maze also improved previous Maier’s record of podium finishes in a single season (22) with 24 podiums. In 2005, 2010, and 2011, she was awarded the title of the best Slovenian female athlete of the year.
Women’s Super Ranking
Best skiers of all-time in overall and each discipline based on ski-database ranking system (counting since 1966). This is a scoring system calculating points together from four categories: World Cup (Overall, Event titles), OG, SWC and World Cup races.
| Rank | Discipline | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 17 | Overall | 106.2 |
| 73 | Downhill | 4.7 |
| 9 | Super-G | 24.7 |
| 7 | Giant slalom | 43.9 |
| 67 | Slalom | 7.2 |
Skiing career
Early years
Born in Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia (then part of Yugoslavia), Maze made her World Cup debut at age 15 in January 1999. She competed in the 2001 World Championships at age 17 and in the 2002 Winter Olympics the following year where she competed and finished 12th in giant slalom. Maze started her career as a giant slalom specialist, but later expanded and competes in all disciplines.
2003–2004: The beginnings
In 2003 she won her first race in the Alpine Skiing World Cup in giant slalom in Sölden, Austria. She finished the 2003 38th in the overall standings with 190 points, all in giant slalom. In 2004 she did not win any race and finished the 2004 33rd in the overall standings with 244 points.
2005–2007: The rise and the struggle
The 2005 season was Maze’s most successful yet. She won 3 races in giant slalom and was on the podium two times in Super-G, both times 3rd. She finished the 2005 season 10th in the overall standings with 650 points, 366 of them coming from giant slalom where she finished 4th.
In the 2006 season she was on the podium 3 times, as 1st and 3rd in giant slalom and as 2nd in Super-G. She finished the 2006 season 14th in the overall standings with 525 points. The 2007 season was not as successful for her, she struggled and did not finish on the podium once and was amongst the top 10 only 3 times.
She finished the 2007 season 30th in the overall standings with 268 points.
2008: First win in downhill
In February 2008, she won the first downhill in her career (also the first Slovenian female downhill victory) in St. Moritz, Switzerland. This was her first non-Giant slalom win. She finished the 2008 season 28th in the overall standings with 287 points.
2009–2010: The breakthrough
The 2009 season was more successful for her; she won two races, both in giant slalom in Maribor, Slovenia and in Åre, Sweden. She was also on the podium 3 times, finishing 2nd in Downhill and finishing 3rd two times in Super-G. At the 2009 World Championships in Val d’Isère, France, she won a Silver medal in giant slalom. She also competed in downhill, where she finished 14th, in Super-G, where she finished 5th, and in Slalom, where she did not finish. Maze finished the 2009 season 6th in the overall standings with 852 points.
