Ralph Weber (born 31 May 1993) is a Swiss alpine ski racer. Weber specializes in the speed events of

Downhill Downhill may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Downhill'' (1927 film), a British film by Alfred Hitchcock * ''Downhill'' (2014 film), a British comedy directed by James Rouse * ''Downhill'' (2016 film), a Chilean thriller directed by Patrici ...

and

Super-G Super giant slalom, or super-G, is a racing discipline of alpine skiing. Along with the faster downhill, it is regarded as a "speed" event, in contrast to the technical events giant slalom and slalom. It debuted as an official World Cup event d ...

also skiing in the

Alpine Combined Combined is an event in Alpine skiing, alpine ski racing. A traditional combined competition consists of one run of Downhill (ski competition), downhill and two runs of Slalom skiing, slalom, each discipline runs on separate days. The winner is the ...

discipline. Weber was the Junior World Champion in Super-G in 2012, making his

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 ...

debut in the same year on 15 March,

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Schladming Schladming is a small former mining town in the northwest of the Austrian state of Styria that is now a popular tourist destination. It has become a large winter-sports resort and has held various skiing competitions, including most notably the ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

at the age of just 18.

Career

Weber's first major appearance was at the 2011 Alpine Skiing Junior World Championships in

Crans-Montana Crans-Montana is a municipality in the district of Sierre in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. On 1 January 2017 the former municipalities of Chermignon, Mollens, Montana and Randogne merged to form the new municipality of Crans-Montana. Cr ...

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 finished 9th in the downhill, and 17th in the Super-G. Having claimed his first podium at Europa Cup level, Weber competed in the 2012 Alpine Skiing Junior World Championships in

Roccaraso Roccaraso is a town and ''comune'' in central Italy, in the province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region. History Founding The town of Roccaraso dates back to around 975 AD, and is located near the Rasinus stream, from which some believe it t ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. He claimed the silver medal in the Downhill, just 9 hundredths of a second behind the winner, and followed that with a gold in the Super-G the following day, ahead of teammate

Nils Mani Nils Mani (born 23 May 1992) is a Swiss former alpine ski racer. Mani specialized in the speed events of Downhill and Super-G. Mani made his World Cup debut on 15 December 2012 in Val Gardena, Italy finishing in 40th place. Career Mani competed ...

. As a result of the World Junior victory, by rule the winner is invited to take part in the World Cup Finals in that discipline, and Weber made his World Cup debut in the Super-G in Schladming, finishing in 22nd place. Weber was also the reserve for Switzerland in the Team Event, though he didn't take part in the race. In the next two seasons, Weber was mainly concentrating on the Europa Cup, with just a few appearances in the

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and

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World Cups, without scoring any points. He was however able to claim his first Europa Cup victory in his home race in

Wengen Wengen () is a mountain village in the Bernese Oberland of central Switzerland. Located in the canton of Bern at an elevation of above sea level, it is part of the Jungfrauregion and has approximately 1,300 year-round residents, which swells to ...

in 2013. Two more appearances at the Junior Worlds did not bring any more medals, and in fact Weber missed the rest of the 2014 season after suffering an injury in the Super-G at the 2014 Junior Worlds in

Jasná Jasná is a small village situated in central Slovakia, in the Low Tatras mountains. It is a part of the municipality Demänovská Dolina. Skiing venue The Jasná area resorts have a total of more than 30 lifts on all sides of the Chopok Moun ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

. 2014-15 was to be the first season where Weber would compete in the majority of the 2015 World Cup races. He claimed his first World Cup points in the downhill in Santa Caterina, finishing in 10th place. Weber also picked up his first career points in Super-G, with a 25th-place finish in Saalbach. Weber missed the start of the 2016 World Cup due to a knee injury suffered in pre-season training, however, Weber was back by the events in

Val Gardena Val Gardena (; german: Gröden ; lld, Gherdëina ) is a valley in Northern Italy, in the Dolomites of South Tyrol. It is best known as a tourist skiing, rock climbing, and woodcarving area. Geography The valley's main river is the Derjon, a ...

in mid-December. In his first World Cup race of the year Weber finished in 11th position in the Super-G, and the next day posted the 7th fastest intermediate time halfway through the downhill, before failing to finish. Courtesy of other skiers injuries and the result in the Super-G, Weber reached the top 30 in the World Cup Start List for the discipline. The races in

Kitzbühel Kitzbühel (, also: ; ) is a medieval town situated in the Kitzbühel Alps along the river Kitzbüheler Ache in Tyrol, Austria, about east of the state capital Innsbruck and is the administrative centre of the Kitzbühel district (). Kitzbühel ...

saw Weber claim points in Super-G, and his first career points in the

discipline. However, due to a race jury decision to cancel the famous downhill after 30 racers, Weber would have to wait another year to tackle the Streif for the first time.

World Cup results

References

External links

* *
Ralph Weber
World Cup standings at the International Ski Federation * {{DEFAULTSORT:Weber, Ralph 1993 births Swiss male alpine skiers Living people Sportspeople from St. Gallen (city)