Thomas Fanara (born 24 April 1981) is a former French World Cup

alpine ski racer Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing (cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether for ...

. Born in

Annecy Annecy ( , ; frp, Èneci or ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. It lies on the northern tip of Lake Annecy, south of Geneva, Switzerland. Nicknamed ...

, Haute-Savoie, Fanara specialised in

giant slalom Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline. It involves skiing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in slalom but less than in Super-G. Giant slalom and slalom make up t ...

; his one and only win came in March 2016 at the giant slalom finals in

St. Moritz St. Moritz (also german: Sankt Moritz, rm, , it, San Maurizio, french: Saint-Moritz) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality in ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. He is the oldest racer to reach a World Cup podium in giant slalom, and competed for France at three Winter Olympics and six World Championships. He retired from competition at the end of the 2018-19 season.

World Cup

Fanara has started over 70 World cup races, mostly in giant slalom but also in

slalom To slalom is to zigzag between obstacles. It may refer to: Sports ;Alpine skiing and/or snowboarding * Slalom skiing, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Giant slalom, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Super-G ...

, and has been on the podium fourteen times. For some time he held the record for most World Cup podium finishes without a win until his victory at the World Cup finals in St. Moritz in 2016. In December

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, he fell and hurt himself in the second run after winning the first run of a race in Bad Kleinkirchheim, but finished. Two years later in December

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, Fanara incurred a season-ending injury to his left knee after a spectacular fall during a race in Beaver Creek, two months before the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

. Following his World Cup win in St. Moritz, Fanara suffered an injury which kept him out of competition for the 2016-17 season. However, he subsequently made a successful return, taking a number of podium finished in his final season.

Season standings

Race podiums

* 1 win – (1 GS) * 14 podiums – (14 GS)

World championships

Fanara has competed in four World Championships in the

discipline. In

in Åre,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, he finished 16th, but on home country snow in

in Val-d'Isère, France, he did not finish the first run. At

Garmisch-Partenkirchen Garmisch-Partenkirchen (; Bavarian: ''Garmasch-Partakurch''), nicknamed Ga-Pa, is an Alpine ski town in Bavaria, southern Germany. It is the seat of government of the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen (abbreviated ''GAP''), in the O ...

, Germany, he finished sixth in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

but failed to finish the first run in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

at Schladming, Austria. Fanara participated in the team event in 2011 at Garmisch and earned a gold medal.

Olympics

At the Winter Olympics, Fanara did not finish the first run of the giant slalom in 2006 and was injured two months prior the

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Games and did not compete.

National championships

Fanara reached the podium of French national championships four times, all in giant slalom. In 2005 he was third; in 2006 he was second; and he won in 2007 and 2009.

References

External links

*
Thomas Fanara
World Cup standings at the International Ski Federation * *
French Ski Team
– 2019 men's A team – '
Fischer Skis
– alpine racing – Thomas Fanara {{DEFAULTSORT:Fanara, Thomas 1981 births French male alpine skiers Alpine skiers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 2014 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 2018 Winter Olympics Olympic alpine skiers of France Sportspeople from Annecy Living people Université Savoie-Mont Blanc alumni 21st-century French people