Maria Helena Pietilä-Holmner (born 25 July 1986) is a retired Swedish

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 name is ...

alpine ski racer. She specialised in the technical events of slalom and

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

. Born in

Umeå Umeå ( , , , locally ; ; ; ; ) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County. Situated on the Ume River, Umeå is the largest Urban areas in Sweden, locality in Norrland and the t ...

, Pietilä-Holmner took up alpine skiing at the age of seven. She was also a keen footballer, playing as a forward for

Mariehem Mariehem is a residential area in Umeå, Sweden. It is located about 4 km outside the central city, next to the lake Nydalasjön. The area was built in the 1960s and consist primarily of rental apartments and condominium apartments. Sports The fo ...

's girls' teams until the age of 15, when she decided to focus on skiing. Pietilä-Holmner made her World Cup debut in

Sölden Sölden () is a municipality in the Ötztal valley of Tyrol, Austria. Geography At c. , it is the largest municipality in the country. The population of 3,449 (as of 2003) is outnumbered by tourists, of which 15,000 can be accommodated. Wit ...

at age 16 in October

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

. She won a gold medal at the 2006 World Junior Alpine Skiing Championships in the slalom. Her first World Cup win came at a slalom in Aspen in November

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. She made a total of 207 World Cup starts, and took ten podiums, including three wins. Pietilä-Holmner took five medals in the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

, two as an individual and three in the team events. She was the silver medalist in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Åre Åre () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and one of the leading Scandinavian ski resorts situated in Åre Municipality, Jämtland County, Sweden with 3,200 inhabitants in 2018. It is, however, not the seat of the municipality, which is Järpe ...

, Sweden. Four years later in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, she won 2 bronze medals at Garmish-Partenkirchen in the slalom and the team event. At

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 th ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, she won a silver in the team event. She took her final Worlds medal at the 2017 Championships, where she was part of the Swedish squad which finished third in the team event. She made her debut at the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held i ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, where she finished tenth in the

. At the

2010 Winter Games The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

, she finished fourth in the slalom, and at the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...

she was sixth in the

. She also won seven Swedish championship titles: five in slalom, one in giant slalom and one in combined. On 17 January 2018, she announced her retirement from alpine skiing, following back problems. to instead become a

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia, owned and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its WBD Sports unit, it operates two main channels—Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...

expert commentator. She has been in a relationship with fellow alpine skier Hans Olsson since 2004: as of 2018 the couple were engaged. They both worked as part of the team covering

alpine skiing at the 2018 Winter Olympics Alpine skiing at the 2018 Winter Olympics was held from 12 to 24 February at Yongpyong Alpine Centre (slalom and giant slalom) at the Alpensia Sports Park in PyeongChang and at the Jeongseon Alpine Centre (speed events) in Jeongseon, South ...

for

World Cup results

Season standings

Race podiums

* 3 wins – (2 SL, 1 CE) * 10 podiums – (7 SL, 1 GS, 2

PSL PSL may refer to: Sport *Pakistan Super League, a Twenty20 cricket league *Palau Soccer League, top division association football league in Palau *Pilipinas Super League, a professional basketball league *Philippine Super Liga, a defunct profes ...

)

World Championship results

Olympic results

Video

Zapiks
– post-race interview in November 2011 – 2nd place, Aspen slalom

References

External links

*

World Cup standings at the International Ski Federation * *

– '

– Maria Pietilä-Holmner – alpine skiing – Sweden * – ' {{DEFAULTSORT:Pietila Holmner, Maria 1986 births Swedish female alpine skiers Alpine skiers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic alpine skiers for Sweden Swedish people of Finnish descent Sportspeople from Umeå Skiers from Västerbotten County Living people 21st-century Swedish sportswomen