Johannes Strolz (born 12 September 1992) is an Austrian

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

alpine ski racer. He won the gold medal in the combined at the 2022 Olympics. He specializes in the technical events of

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

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 ...

. He is the son of

Hubert Strolz Hubert Strolz (born 26 June 1962), nickname "Hubsi", is a former alpine skier from Austria. At the 1988 Olympics in Calgary he won a gold medal in the combined and silver in the Giant Slalom. Career In the World Cup, he won a combined competi ...

, the gold medalist in Combined at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. He and his father became the first father-son duo to win gold in Alpine skiing at the Olympics.

Biography

Youth and Europa Cup

Strolz was born on September 12, 1992, in Bludenz, Austria. His father, Hubert Strolz, became the Olympic champion in combined at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. After graduating from the famous Schigymnasium Stams, he became a member of the junior squad of the Austrian Skiing Federation. Making his debut in the

FIS Alpine Ski Europa Cup The FIS Alpine Ski Europa Cup is a second level international alpine skiing circuit organized annually by the International Ski Federation (FIS) beginning with the 1971-1972 season. Although held in Europe, these races are also open to non-Eu ...

, Strolz's first success came at the

World Junior Alpine Skiing Championships 2012 The World Junior Alpine Skiing Championships 2012 were the 31st World Junior Alpine Skiing Championships, held between 29 February and 9 March 2012 in Roccaraso Roccaraso is a town and ''comune'' in central Italy, in the province of L'Aquila in ...

, where he won the bronze medal in the Super-G, behind Switzerland's Ralph Weber and Nils Mani. At the following championships in

Québec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

, he failed to repeat the win of a medal, still finishing within the top 20. Strolz then began shifting his focus onto the technical competitions of slalom and giant slalom. He became the overall champion of the Europa Cup in the 2017-18 season.

World Cup and Olympic Games

Johannes Strolz debuted on the

FIS Alpine Ski World Cup The FIS Alpine Ski World Cup is the top international circuit of alpine skiing competitions, launched in 1966 by a group of ski racing friends and experts which included French journalist Serge Lang and the alpine ski team directors from France ...

at the giant slalom of Val-d’Isère in December 2013. He then struggled to deliver results and only appeared occasionally on the World Cup. In December 2019, he achieved his first world cup points, finishing 30th 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 ...

. At the slalom of

Madonna di Campiglio Madonna di Campiglio (german: Sankt Maria im Pein) is a village and a ski resort in northeast Italy. It is a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' of Pinzolo. The village lies in the Val Rendena at an elevation of above sea level, and has approximatel ...

in January 2020, Strolz reached his best result at that point, tenth place. He failed to win further points at the World Cup and was dismissed from the squad for that reason. He was granted to train with the Austrian team sometimes. Strolz had to pay for everything himself, including preparing his skis. Two years after his top-ten finish, he unexpectedly won the slalom race of

Adelboden , neighboring_municipalities= Diemtigen, Frutigen, Kandersteg, Lenk im Simmental, Leukerbad (VS), Sankt Stephan , twintowns= } Adelboden is a mountain village and a municipality in Switzerland, located in the Frutigen-Niedersimmental administ ...

on January 9, 2022.https://medias4.fis-ski.com/pdf/2022/AL/0026/2022AL0026.pdf At the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beij ...

, Strolz took part in the Alpine combined, Slalom and Team Event. He won a medal in the three events, two gold and one silver medal. Thirty-four years after his father became an Olympic champion in Calgary, Strolz won the Alpine combined, becoming the first father-son duo to win gold in Alpine skiing at the Olympics. He then claimed the silver medal in the slalom, only beaten by French skier Clement Noel, and the gold medal in the team event.

World Cup results

Season standings

Top ten finishes

* 1 wins (1 SL) * 1 podium; 5 top tens (5 SL)

World Championship results

Olympic results

References

External links

* 1992 births Living people Austrian male alpine skiers People from Bludenz Alpine skiers at the 2022 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic alpine skiers for Austria Olympic medalists in alpine skiing Olympic gold medalists for Austria Olympic silver medalists for Austria Skiers from Vorarlberg {{Austria-Winter-Olympic-medalist-stub