Pirmin Zurbriggen

Pirmin Zurbriggen
	Zurbriggen in 2014
Personal information
Born	4 February 1963 (age 61); Saas Almagell, Valais, Switzerland
Occupation	Alpine skier
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Skiing career
Disciplines	Downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom, combined
World Cup debut	4 January 1981 (age 17)
Retired	17 March 1990 (age 27)
Website	zurbriggen.ch
Olympics
Teams	2 (1984, 1988)
Medals	2 (1 gold)
World Championships
Teams	4 (1982, 1985, 1987, 1989)
Medals	9 (4 gold)
World Cup
Seasons	10 (1981–1990)
Wins	40
Podiums	83
Overall titles	4 (1984, 1987, 1988, 1990)
Discipline titles	12
Medal record
Men's Alpine Skiing
Representing Switzerland
International alpine ski competitions
World Cup race podiums
Olympic Games
World Championships

Pirmin Zurbriggen (born 4 February 1963) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Switzerland. One of the most successful ski racers ever, he won the overall World Cup title four times, an Olympic gold medal in 1988 in Downhill, and nine World Championships medals (4 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze).

Biography

Zurbriggen was born in Saas-Almagell in the canton of Valais, the son of Alois, an innkeeper, and Ida. His father competed as a ski racer in local competitions in the 1940s and 1950s, but quit the sport after his brother was killed in a training accident.^[1] Zurbriggen made his World Cup debut in January 1981, a month before his 18th birthday. With his victory in the downhill at Kitzbühel in January 1985 at age 21, he became the first to win World Cup races in all five disciplines. (The fifth discipline, super-G, was added in December 1982.)^[2] Incidentally Marc Girardelli, the second to enter this exclusive circle, won his first downhill race four years later at the same venue.

Zurbriggen retired from international competition after having won the 1990 World Cup overall title – his fourth, which was then the most overall titles won by a single racer, reached only once before by Gustav Thöni in 1975. Again it was Marc Girardelli who followed him in 1991 with a fourth overall title, and Girardelli added another in 1993 to become the only male racer with five overall titles in World Cup history.

Zurbriggen grew up in the remote village of Saas-Almagell, near Saas-Fee. With a total of 40 World Cup victories over nine years and five gold medals, he belongs to the "All-Time Greats" of alpine skiing, ranking fifth in all-time wins and having 169 Top Ten finishes.^[3]

Zurbriggen left the World Cup tour as a hero to start a family; he was married the previous summer (30 June 1989) to Monika Julen (the sister of his best friend on the Swiss ski team, Max Julen),^[4] with whom he has five children: Elia, Pirmin Jr., Maria, Alain and Leonie, who have all competed in ski racing.^[5] He is the older brother of Heidi Zurbriggen, a winner of three World Cup downhill races, and a distant cousin of Silvan Zurbriggen.^[6]

Zurbriggen now runs the "Wellness Hotel Pirmin Zurbriggen" with his parents in Saas-Almagell and another, "Apparthotel Zurbriggen," in Zermatt.^[7] In addition, after his World Cup career had ended he partnered with Authier Ski company on a line of signature skis.^[8]

World Cup results

Season standings

Season	Age	Overall	Slalom	Giant Slalom	Super G	Downhill	Combined
1981	18	31	—	17	not run	—	18
1982	19	11	33	6	not run	—	7
1983	20	6	21	4	not awarded (w/ GS)	26	3
1984	21	1	24	2		10	2
1985	22	2	14	2		5	9
1986	23	2	6	10	2	11	1
1987	24	1	21	1	1	1	1
1988	25	1	9	4	1	1	4
1989	26	2	15	2	1	4	3
1990	27	1	11	6	1	3	1

Season titles

11 titles (4 overall, 2 DH, 4 SG, 1 GS) plus unofficial 3 K

Season	Discipline
1984	Overall
1984
1987	Overall
	Downhill
	Super-G
	Giant slalom
1988	Overall
	Downhill
	Super G
1989	Super-G
1989
1990	Overall
1990	Super-G

Race victories

40 wins (10 DH, 10 SG, 7 GS, 11 SC, 2 SL)
83 podiums (40 wins, 26 second place, 17 third place)

Downhill

Date	Location
11-Jan-1985	Kitzbühel
12-Jan-1985	Kitzbühel
16-Aug-1986	Las Leñas
05-Dec-1986	Val d'Isère
10-Jan-1987	Garmisch
25-Jan-1987	Kitzbühel
07-Mar-1987	Aspen, CO
09-Jan-1988	Val d'Isère
29-Jan-1988	Schladming
06-Dec-1989	Val Gardena

Giant slalom

Date	Location
24-Mar-1982	San Sicario
11-Jan-1983	Adelboden
05-Mar-1984	Aspen, CO
13-Jan-1987	Adelboden
20-Jan-1987	Adelboden
15-Feb-1987	Todtnau
29-Nov-1988	Val Thorens

Slalom

Date	Location
10-Dec-1984	Sestriere
23-Feb-1986	Åre

Super-G

Date	Location
19-Dec-1983	Val Gardena
20-Mar-1984	Oppdal
07-Dec-1984	Puy-Saint-Vincent
17-Mar-1985	Panorama, BC
28-Feb-1986	Hemsedal
08-Mar-1987	Aspen, CO
27-Nov-1988	Schladming
12-Dec-1989	Sestriere
06-Feb-1990	Courmayeur
10-Mar-1990	Hemsedal

Combined

Date	Location
24-Jan-1982	Wengen
22-Dec-1982	Campiglio
29-Jan-1984	Garmisch
11-Jan-1985	Kitzbühel
19-Jan-1986	Kitzbühel
23-Feb-1986	Åre
18-Jan-1987	Wengen
25-Jan-1987	Kitzbühel
22-Dec-1988	St. Anton
12-Jan-1990	Schladming
21-Jan-1990	Kitzbühel