Stephan "Steff" Eberharter (born 24 March 1969) is a former

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 from

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 ...

Biography

Born in

Brixlegg Brixlegg is a market town (since 1927) in the Kufstein district in the Austrian state of Tyrol. The town lies in the Lower Inn Valley and at the entrance of the Alpbachtal. Neighbouring municipalities Alpbach, Kramsach, Radfeld, Rattenberg, ...

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

, Eberharter was the winner of the overall World Cup title in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

and

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, as well as the season titles in

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 ...

. He was the nearest rival of compatriot

Hermann Maier Hermann Maier (born 7 December 1972) is an Austrian former World Cup champion alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist. Nicknamed the "Herminator", Maier ranks among the greatest alpine ski racers in history, with four overall World Cup tit ...

in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Eberharter retired from international competition following the conclusion of the 2003–04 season.

Career

Eberharter made his World Cup debut during the

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

season at age 20, where he finished 32nd in the overall standings. The next year he finished second in the super-G standings and won two gold medals at the 1991 World Championships in Saalbach, the super-G and combined. He was voted the

Austrian Sportspersonality of the year The Austrian Sports Personality of the Year is chosen annually since 1949. Recordholders are Annemarie Moser-Pröll (seven awards) and Marcel Hirscher (six awards). In 1978 and 1979 the Austria national football team was named Austrian Sports Team ...

for 1991. After injury setbacks, he became particularly successful in the

event, and finished third in the downhill standings in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

and was the runner-up in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

. His nemesis on the snow, teammate Maier, was involved in a serious motorcycle accident in August 2001 which sidelined him for the 2002 season. In Maier's absence, Eberharter went on to take the overall World Cup title (and downhill and super-G) in

and

. His

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

victory at the Hahnenkamm downhill 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 ...

is often regarded as one of the most impressive downhill victories in alpine skiing history, besting runner-up

Daron Rahlves Daron Louis Rahlves (born June 12, 1973) is a former American World Cup alpine ski racer and freestyle skier. Biography Born in Walnut Creek, California, and raised in Northern California, Rahlves attended the Green Mountain Valley School in ...

by a lengthy 1.21 seconds, an equivalent of at . Eberharter enjoyed success at the World Championships and Olympic Games as well. In

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

in Saalbach, he won two gold medals in the super-G and combined events. Twelve years later, at St. Moritz in

, he took gold in the super-G event again. At the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...

Nagano, Japan Nagano may refer to: Places * Nagano Prefecture, a prefecture in Japan ** Nagano (city), the capital city of the same prefecture *** Nagano 1998, the 1998 Winter Olympics *** Nagano Olympic Stadium, a baseball stadium in Nagano *** Nagano Univer ...

, he finished second in the

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 ...

, but went on to take gold in the same event at the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

, where he also won the bronze medal in the downhill, and took silver in the super-G. In his final season in 2004, Eberharter won four downhills and the downhill season title; he had twelve podiums, was second in the overall standings, and third in Super-G.

World Cup results

Season titles

* 7 titles – (2 overall, 3 DH, 2 SG)

Season standings

Race victories

* 29 wins – (18 DH, 6 SG, 5 GS) * 75 podiums – (38 DH, 24 SG, 13 GS)

World Championship results

Olympic results

References

External links

* *
Steff.at
– personal site – ' {{DEFAULTSORT:Eberharter, Stephan 1969 births People from Kufstein District Austrian male alpine skiers Alpine skiers at the 1992 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Olympic alpine skiers of Austria Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in alpine skiing Olympic gold medalists for Austria Olympic silver medalists for Austria Olympic bronze medalists for Austria FIS Alpine Ski World Cup champions Living people Recipients of the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria Sportspeople from Tyrol (state) 20th-century Austrian people 21st-century Austrian people