Carlo Janka

Carlo Janka (born 15 October 1986) is an alpine ski racer from Switzerland. Born in Obersaxen, in the canton of Graubünden, he had the winter sports facilities right in front of his home.[1] Janka has won gold medals at both the Winter Olympics and the World Championships, as well as one World Cup overall title, one discipline title and also, one unofficial alpine combined title.

Carlo Janka
Alpine skier
Janka in February 2009
DisciplinesDownhill, Super G,
Giant slalom, Combined
ClubObersaxen
Born (1986-10-15) 15 October 1986
Obersaxen, Graubünden,
Switzerland
Height1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
World Cup debut21 December 2005
(age 19)
Websitecarlo-janka.ch
Olympics
Teams3 – (2010, 2014, 2018)
Medals1 (1 gold)
World Championships
Teams6 – (20092019)
Medals2 (1 gold)
World Cup
Seasons14 – (200717, 201921)
Wins11 – (3 DH, 1 SG, 4 GS, 3 SC)
Podiums28
Overall titles1 – (2010)
Discipline titles2 – (SC: 2009, AC:2015A )

In 2013, Janka set a World Cup speed record in the downhill part of the super combined event in Wengen, Switzerland. He reached a maximum speed of 158.77 km/h (98.66 mph) on the Haneggschuss, the fastest section of the classic Lauberhorn slope, on 18 January.[2]

Ski racing career

Janka competed in his first international FIS race in December 2001 at age 15. Not until four years later did he reach the podium, but success came in all four disciplines. Janka began racing on the Europa Cup circuit in January 2004. He earned his first two World Cup starts in December 2005, but did not finish either race. At the Junior World Championships in 2006 at Mt. Ste. Anne, Quebec, Canada, he won the bronze medal in giant slalom, and he finished the 2007 season in fourth place in the overall Europa Cup standings.

Janka scored his first World Cup points in the giant slalom at Alta Badia, Italy, on 17 December 2006, finishing in 20th place. But his World Cup breakthrough began two years later, on 29 November 2008, when he came out of the 65th starting position to finish a surprising second place in the downhill at Lake Louise. Two weeks later on 13 December, he gained his first World Cup victory in a giant slalom race at Val d'Isère, France, followed the next month by a victory in the Lauberhorn super-combined in Wengen. A month later, he won the gold medal in giant slalom and the bronze in downhill at the 2009 World Championships in Val d'Isère.

On the weekend of 4–6 December, 2009, Janka achieved a remarkable feat by winning the super-combined, downhill, and giant slalom on the challenging Birds of Prey course at Beaver Creek, Colorado. Janka was the first to win three World Cup races in a single weekend since Hermann Maier at the same location ten years earlier. On the same weekend as Janka triumphed in Beaver Creek, Lindsey Vonn almost duplicated the feat on the women's tour at Lake Louise, winning two races and narrowly missing a third win. On 16 January 2010, Janka won the Lauberhorn downhill in Wengen, the longest and fastest race on the World Cup tour, a day after nearly repeating his 2009 win in the super-combined by narrowly placing second behind Bode Miller.

On 23 February 2010, Janka won the gold medal in the giant slalom at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics at Whistler Creekside in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada.

At the World Cup finals in Garmisch, Germany, in March 2010, he became the fourth Swiss racer to win the World Cup overall title. He clinched the title by winning the downhill and giant slalom, which left his nearest opponent, Benjamin Raich, 106 points back with one race remaining, an insurmountable margin.

In October 2010, Janka was awarded the Skieur d'Or Award[3] by members of the International Association of Ski Journalists for his performances during the previous season, thereby becoming the first Swiss male skier to receive the honour since Pirmin Zurbriggen won it back in 1990.

Following the 2011 World Championships, Janka underwent surgery due to increased symptoms from heart arrhythmias. A radio frequency catheter intervention was done on 23 February, interrupting accessory electrical pathways to the heart. These unnecessary extra pathways had caused his heart rate to behave abnormally during exercise and stress, posing possibly severe risks. Janka recovered well from the catheterization and resumed training five days later,[4] winning the giant slalom at Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, on 5 March for his sole victory of the 2011 season.

Janka switched equipment following the 2013–2014 season, from Atomic to Rossignol.[5]

World Cup results

Season titles

Season
Discipline
2009Combined
2010Overall
2015Combined A

A Unofficial, a crystal globe for AC was not awarded between 2013 and 2015.

Season standings

Season
Age Overall Slalom Giant
Slalom
Super G Downhill Combined
20072013040
2008216428464631
2009227616161
20102312622
20112435696
2012252416281719
201326484827384
2014271825201710
201528101211171
201629929597
201730122019730
201831injured
20193258411929
20203328388
2021346919
Standings through 17 January 2021

Race podiums

  • 11 wins – (3 DH, 1 SG, 4 GS, 3 AC)
  • 28 podiums – (11 DH, 3 SG, 6 GS, 1 PG, 7 AC)
Season
Date Location Discipline Rank
200929 Nov 2008 Lake Louise, CanadaDownhill2nd
13 Dec 2008 Val d'Isere, FranceGiant slalom1st
16 Jan 2009   Wengen, SwitzerlandSuper combined1st
22 Feb 2009 Sestriere, ItalySuper combined3rd
201025 Oct 2009 Sölden, AustriaGiant slalom3rd
28 Nov 2009 Lake Louise, CanadaDownhill3rd
04 Dec 2009 Beaver Creek, USASuper combined1st
05 Dec 2009Downhill1st
06 Dec 2009Giant slalom1st
18 Dec 2009 Val Gardena, ItalySuper-G2nd
15 Jan 2010   Wengen, SwitzerlandSuper combined2nd
16 Jan 2010Downhill1st
10 Mar 2010 Garmisch, GermanyDownhill1st
12 Mar 2010Giant slalom1st
201128 Nov 2010 Lake Louise, CanadaSuper-G2nd
14 Jan 2011   Wengen, SwitzerlandSuper combined2nd
15 Jan 2011Downhill3rd
06 Feb 2011 Hinterstoder, AustriaGiant slalom3rd
05 Mar 2011 Kranjska Gora, SloveniaGiant slalom1st
201318 Jan 2013   Wengen, SwitzerlandSuper combined3rd
201516 Jan 2015Super combined1st
18 Jan 2015Downhill3rd
201623 Jan 2016 Kitzbühel, AustriaDownhill3rd
7 Feb 2016 Jeongseon, South KoreaSuper-G1st
201719 Dec 2016 Alta Badia, ItalyParallel-G2nd
15 Mar 2017 Aspen, USADownhill3rd
202030 Nov 2019 Lake Louise, CanadaDownhill3rd
7 Mar 2020 Kvitfjell, NorwayDownhill3rd

World Championships results

  Year   Age  Slalom  Giant 
 slalom 
Super-GDownhillCombined
200922193DNS2
20112477
201326DNS225198
2015281296
2017308287
2019323518

Olympic results

  Year   Age  Slalom  Giant 
 slalom 
Super-GDownhillCombined
20102318114
201427132268
201831 15

References

  1. Skiing in Obersaxen, Switzerland Archived 6 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  2. "France's Alexis Pinturault wins super-combi event in Switzerland". CBC Sports. Associated Press. 18 January 2013.
  3. "Snow Kings Ski Site – Ski Racing – Skieur d'Or Award". Snowkings.co.uk. Archived from the original on 19 September 2010. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  4. "Janka has surgery for heart problem". Ski Racing.com. 1 March 2011.
  5. Feehan, CJ (7 April 2014). "Carlo Janka switches to Rossignol". Ski Racing. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
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