Kristian Ghedina

Kristian Ghedina

Ghedina in January 2000
Medal record
Men's alpine skiing
Competitor for Italy
World Championships
1996 Sierra Nevada Downhill
1991 Saalbach Combined
1997 Sestriere Downhill

Kristian Ghedina (Italian pronunciation: [ˈkristjan ɡeˈdina]; born 20 November 1969) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Italy. His thirteen victories are the most by an Italian downhill specialist in World Cup history. He is currently an auto racer.

Career

Ghedina was born in Cortina d'Ampezzo in the province of Belluno, and his mother tongue is Ladin.

He studied in Innsbruck and made his World Cup debut in 1989. The following year, after a series of initial podiums and a ruinous fall, he won the last two downhills of the season. He won the silver medal in the Combined race of the 1991 World Championships at Saalbach, Austria; however, the following year he suffered a serious car crash.

Ghedina returned to his best form only in 1995, remaining among the best specialists in the speed disciplines until 2001, when he obtained the last of his 13 World Cup victories (12 Downhills and one Super-G, with a total of 33 podiums).[1] He won also another silver medal at the 1996 and a bronze in the 1997 championships, both in downhill.

After his last World Cup victory he kept on racing for another 5 seasons, reaching 15 top ten results, two of them podiums.

His probably most remarkable performance he gave on 24 January 2004 at the Hahnenkamm race in Kitzbühel: on the last jump, approaching the finish line at a speed of 137,6 km/h, he produced a straddle in the air ("spread eagle") which amazed spectators and TV commentators; nevertheless he gained a temporary lead in the race, which he finished sixth in the end.[2]

Ghedina retired from ski racing following the 2006 season.

He has raced a BMW in the Italian Superturismo Championship and, driving a Lola, in the Formula 3000 International Masters.

In 2012 he started working with the Croatian national ski team, advising the team on the alpine speed disciplines.[3]

World Cup results

Race victories

Season Date Location Discipline
19903 Feb 1990 Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy Downhill
15 Mar 1990 Åre, Sweden Downhill
1995 20 Jan 1995 Wengen, Switzerland Downhill
25 Feb 1995 Whistler, British Columbia, Canada Downhill
199721 Dec 1996 Val Gardena, ItalyDownhill
11 Jan 1997 Chamonix, France Downhill
18 Jan 1997 Wengen, Switzerland Downhill
19984 Dec 1997 Beaver Creek, CO, USA Downhill
24 Jan 1998 Kitzbühel, Austria Downhill
199919 Dec 1998 Val Gardena, Italy Downhill
2000 17 Dec 1999 Val Gardena, Italy Downhill
5 Mar 2000 Kvitfjell, Norway Super-G
200214 Dec 2001 Val Gardena, Italy Downhill

Season standings

Season Age Overall Slalom Giant
Slalom 		Super G Downhill Combined
1990 20 15 – – — 6 7
1991 21 22 – 32 19 11 6
1992 22 43 – – 39 15 29
1993 23 57 – – – 27 20
1994 24 40 – – 39 19 7
1995 25 7 – 32 7 2 –
1996 26 15 – 46 10 8 5
1997 27 4 – – 5 2 6
1998 28 11 – – 10 6 –
1999 29 20 – – 36 8 9
2000 30 4 – – 8 2 8
2001 31 60 – – – 21 —
2002 32 10 – – 15 3 12
2003 33 98 – – 57 36 –
2004 34 49 – – – 20 –
2005 35 32 – – 34 12 –
2006 36 35 – – – 10 –

Video

References

  1. ↑ Ski-db.com – Kristian Ghedina – accessed 9 March 2010
  2. ↑ shown on YouTube-Videos - one in German followed by an interview, the other one in French
  3. ↑ "Ivica Kostelic and Kristian Ghedina team up at Colmar". International Ski Federation. 5 July 2012. Retrieved 14 February 2014.

External links

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