Michael von Grünigen (born 11 April 1969) is a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internati ...

former alpine

skier Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (I ...

. He is considered to be the most successful Giant Slalom skier of his era: In 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2003, he won the

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 ...

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 ...

. In 1997 and 2001, he was World Champion in Giant Slalom. He took a total of 23 World Cup wins during his career. Having originally announced his retirement 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 dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soó ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

, after failing to medal at the Games he elected to delay his retirement for a year, ending his competitive career in 2003.

Biography

Von Grünigen is originally from the Bernese Highlands of Switzerland, and comes from a skiing family: his parents were both ski instructors, and one of his three sisters is fellow alpine skier Christine von Grünigen. He is married to Anna, and the couple have three children:

Noel Noel or Noël may refer to: Christmas * , French for Christmas * Noel is another name for a Christmas carol Places *Noel, Missouri, United States, a city *Noel, Nova Scotia, Canada, a community * 1563 Noël, an asteroid * Mount Noel, Britis ...

, Elio and Lian. Since retiring from competition, he has worked in a number of roles with his equipment sponsor,

Fischer Fischer is a German occupational surname, meaning fisherman. The name Fischer is the fourth most common German surname. The English version is Fisher. People with the surname A * Abraham Fischer (1850–1913) South African public official * ...

, and also works with young skiers for the Swiss Ski Federation. __NOTOC__

World Cup victories

World Cups

Individual races

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grunigen, Michael Von 1969 births Living people Swiss male alpine skiers Olympic alpine skiers of Switzerland Olympic bronze medalists for Switzerland Alpine skiers at the 1992 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1994 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in alpine skiing FIS Alpine Ski World Cup champions Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from the canton of Bern

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...