Silvan Zurbriggen (born 15 August 1981) is a retired Swiss World Cup alpine ski racer who competed primarily in downhill and combined, and occasionally in super-G. In 2012, he stopped competing in slalom due to poor results.
 Zurbriggen in December 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 15 August 1981 Brig, Valais, Switzerland | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Alpine skier | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Skiing career | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Disciplines | Downhill, Combined, Super G | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Saas-Almagell | ||||||||||||||||||||
| World Cup debut | 20 January 2002 (age 20) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | 1 April 2015 (age 33) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | www | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Olympics | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Teams | 2 – (2006, 2010) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Medals | 1 (0 gold) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| World Championships | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Teams | 7 – (2003–15) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Medals | 1 (0 gold) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| World Cup | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Seasons | 14 – (2002–15) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Wins | 2 – (1 DH, 1 SC) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Podiums | 13 – (2 DH, 3 SL, 8 SC) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Overall titles | 0 – (6th in 2011) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline titles | 0 – (2nd in SC, 2009) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Born in Brig, Valais, Zurbriggen represented Switzerland in seven world championships and two Olympics. He won the silver medal in the slalom before a home crowd at the world championships in 2003 at St. Moritz, and was the Olympic bronze medalist in the combined in 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, held at Whistler. Following his silver medal at age 21, he was the Swiss Winter Sportsman of the year in 2002 / 2003.
Zurbriggen retired from World Cup competition in April 2015 at age 33 with two victories and thirteen podiums. He is a distant cousin of former Swiss ski racers Pirmin Zurbriggen and Heidi Zurbriggen,[1] and the cousin of Elia Zurbriggen.
Following his racing career, he embarked on a career in banking with an 18-month internship at Raiffeisen.[2]
World Cup results edit
Season standings edit
| Season | Age | Overall | Slalom | Giant Slalom |
Super G | Downhill | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 21 | 54 | 18 | — | — | — | — |
| 2004 | 22 | 30 | 13 | — | — | — | — |
| 2005 | 23 | 24 | 12 | — | 35 | 22 | — |
| 2006 | 24 | 49 | 35 | — | 43 | 48 | 10 |
| 2007 | 25 | 13 | 14 | — | 18 | 26 | 4 |
| 2008 | 26 | 66 | 33 | — | 36 | 46 | 26 |
| 2009 | 27 | 18 | 19 | — | 32 | 34 | 2 |
| 2010 | 28 | 8 | 3 | 32 | 33 | 38 | 4 |
| 2011 | 29 | 6 | 18 | 49 | 17 | 4 | 4 |
| 2012 | 30 | 33 | — | — | 23 | 26 | 6 |
| 2013 | 31 | 75 | — | — | 30 | 34 | 23 |
| 2014 | 32 | 72 | — | — | 54 | 32 | 20 |
| 2015 | 33 | 62 | — | — | — | 27 | 15 |
Race podiums edit
| Season | Date | Location | Discipline | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 13 Dec 2004 |  Sestriere, Italy |
Slalom | 2nd |
| 2007 | 14 Jan 2007 |  Wengen, Switzerland |
Super combined | 3rd |
| 9 Mar 2007 |  Kvitfjell, Norway |
Super combined | 2nd | |
| 2009 | 16 Jan 2009 | Wengen, Switzerland |
Super combined | 3rd |
| 25 Jan 2009 |  Kitzbühel, Austria |
Combined | 1st | |
| 2010 | 21 Dec 2009 | Alta Badia, Italy |
Slalom | 2nd |
| 15 Jan 2010 | Wengen, Switzerland |
Super combined | 3rd | |
| 24 Jan 2010 | Kitzbühel, Austria |
Combined | 2nd | |
| 26 Jan 2010 | Schladming, Austria |
Slalom | 2nd | |
| 2011 | 18 Dec 2010 | Val Gardena, Italy |
Downhill | 1st |
| 29 Dec 2010 | Bormio, Italy |
Downhill | 2nd | |
| 23 Jan 2011 | Kitzbühel, Austria |
Combined | 2nd | |
| 2012 | 22 Jan 2012 | Combined | 3rd |
World Championship results edit
| Year | Age | Slalom | Giant slalom |
Super-G | Downhill | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 21 | 2 | — | — | — | 5 |
| 2005 | 23 | 7 | — | — | — | 5 |
| 2007 | 25 | DNF1 | — | 14 | — | 8 |
| 2009 | 27 | DNF2 | — | — | — | 4 |
| 2011 | 29 | DNF1 | — | 13 | 12 | DNF2 |
| 2013 | 31 | — | — | DSQ | 6 | 7 |
| 2015 | 33 | — | — | — | — | 15 |
Olympic results 
edit
| Year | Age | Slalom | Giant slalom |
Super-G | Downhill | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 24 | 15 | — | — | — | DNF2 |
| 2010 | 28 | 12 | — | — | — | 3 |
References edit
- ^ Lang, Patrick (18 December 2010). "Silvan Zurbriggen on Pirmin's footsteps". FIS-Ski.com. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
- ^ "Silvan Zurbriggen to begin new career in banking". FIS-Ski.com. 2 April 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
External links edit
- Silvan Zurbriggen at the International Ski and Snowboard Federation
- Silvan Zurbriggen World Cup standings at the International Ski Federation
- Silvan Zurbriggen at Ski-DB Alpine Ski Database
- Silvan Zurbriggen at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
- Official website (in German)