Pirmin Zurbriggen

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).

Pirmin Zurbriggen
Alpine skier
Zurbriggen in 2014
DisciplinesDownhill, Super-G,
Giant slalom, Slalom,
Combined
Born (1963-02-04) 4 February 1963
Saas Almagell, Valais, Switzerland
Height1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
World Cup debut4 January 1981 (age 17)
Retired17 March 1990 (age 27)
Websitezurbriggen.ch
Olympics
Teams2 (1984, 1988)
Medals2 (1 gold)
World Championships
Teams4 (1982, 1985, 1987, 1989)
Medals9 (4 gold)
World Cup
Seasons10 (1981–1990)
Wins40
Podiums83
Overall titles4 (1984, 1987, 1988, 1990)
Discipline titles12

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

SeasonAgeOverallSlalomGiant
Slalom
Super GDownhillCombined
1981183117not
run
18
198219113367
1983206214not
awarded
(w/ GS)
263
1984211241102
198522214259
19862326102111
1987241211111
198825194114
1989262151143
1990271116131

Season titles

  • 13 titles (4 overall, 2 DH, 4 SG, 3 GS) plus unofficial 3 K
Season Discipline
1984Overall
Giant Slalom
1987Overall
Downhill
Super-G
Giant Slalom
1988Overall
Downhill
Super G
1989Super-G
Giant Slalom
1990Overall
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

World championship results

  Year   Age  Slalom  Giant 
 Slalom 
Super-GDownhillCombined
198522DNF2not run11
198724DNF1122
198926DNF32154

Olympic results

  Year   Age  Slalom  Giant 
 Slalom 
Super-GDownhillCombined
198421DNF1DNF1not run4not run
1988257351DNF SL2

See also

References

  1. Johnson, William Oscar (January 27, 1988). "The Swiss Golden Boy". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  2. victories of Pirmin Zurbriggen on fis-ski.com, sorted by date, retrieved December 30, 2011
  3. Most Valuable Racers – Top 50, retrieved February 22, 2010
  4. Harvey, Randy (February 8, 1988). "PIRMIN ZURBRIGGEN: The Pride of the Swiss Mountain Country Is an Often Humble, Yet Daring Young Man Who Could Win Three Gold Medals in Skiing". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 21, 2018.
  5. Despont, Christian; Monnard, Bertrand (December 28, 2014). "Les enfants Zurbriggen arrivent en force" [The children of Zurbriggen arrive in force]. Le Matin (Switzerland) (in French). Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  6. Lang, Patrick (December 18, 2010). "Silvan Zurbriggen on Pirmin's footsteps". FIS-Ski.com. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
  7. Zurbriggen Homepage, retrieved November 22, 2007
  8. California Ski Company (2003), The Authier Story, archived from the original on December 27, 2007, retrieved November 19, 2007
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