Lasse Kjus

Lasse Kjus (born 14 January 1971) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Norway. He won the overall World Cup title twice, an Olympic gold medal, and several World Championships.[1] His combined career total of 16 Olympic and World Championship medals ranks second all-time behind fellow Norwegian Kjetil André Aamodt.

Lasse Kjus
Alpine skier
Kjus in January 2006
DisciplinesDownhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom, combined
ClubBærums SK
Born (1971-01-14) 14 January 1971
Oslo, Norway
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
World Cup debut14 January 1990 (age 19)
RetiredMarch 2006 (age 35)
Olympics
Teams4 – (19942006)
Medals5 (1 gold)
World Championships
Teams8 – (19912005)
Medals11 (3 gold)
World Cup
Seasons17 – (1990–2006)
Wins18 – (10 DH, 2 SG, 2 GS, 4 K)
Podiums60
Overall titles2 – (1996, 1999)
Discipline titles4 – (1 DH, 3 K)

Racing career

Born in Oslo, Kjus grew up in Siggerud, but represented the club Bærums SK.

In February 1999, Kjus pulled off one of the most remarkable feats in the history of alpine skiing when he medaled in all 5 events at the 1999 World Championships in Vail, Colorado. Five skiers had previously earned four medals at a single World Championship (through 1980, the Winter Olympics also served as World Championships for alpine skiing): Toni Sailer of Austria in 1956 at Cortina and in 1958 at Bad Gastein, Marielle Goitschel of France in 1966 at Portillo, Chile, Jean-Claude Killy of France in 1968 at Grenoble, Rosi Mittermaier of Germany in 1976 at Innsbruck, and Pirmin Zurbriggen of Switzerland in 1987 at Crans-Montana; the first four did so when only four medal events were contested, but no one before or since has medaled in all five alpine disciplines, downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom, and combined or Super-combined, at a single championship.

He started off on 2 February by tying Austrian great Hermann Maier for gold in super-G. Four days later, in the downhill at nearby Beaver Creek, Kjus settled for silver, 0.31 seconds behind Maier. On 9 February in the combined event, he narrowly missed his second gold, finishing in silver-medal position only 0.16 seconds behind compatriot Kjetil André Aamodt. With momentum building, Kjus captured gold in the giant slalom on 12 February, and then finished off his remarkable run two days later with silver in his weakest event, slalom. He had the lead after the first of two runs of slalom, but skied conservatively to assure he would win a fifth medal. He finished a scant 0.11 seconds behind Kalle Palander of Finland over two runs. Reflecting on his performance that day and the entire fortnight in Colorado, Kjus said "I always try my best, but I could never have dreamed ... maybe I could have skied faster in the second run, but I didn't want to be too aggressive. I knew I could get a podium, and that's all I wanted." He missed winning all five gold medals by a combined total of slightly more than half a second (0.58 seconds). Most impressively, he performed the feat while suffering from a chest infection which had dogged him all winter and often left him coughing and wheezing at the bottom of courses.

Those who have seen the live-broadcasting of his slalom at the Lauberhorn race in Wengen, Switzerland, on 17 January 1999, will never forget how he got out of the starting gate, got caught with the tip of his right ski, went backwards through the first gate and finished third in the end – his best World Cup slalom result ever, documented on a YouTube video

Kjus raced for 17 seasons on the World Cup circuit; his first race was in January 1990 in Alta Badia, Italy, and his last in March 2006 in Åre, Sweden. He won 18 World Cup events (10 in downhill, 2 in super-G, 2 in giant slalom and 4 combined), attained 60 podiums, and had 150 top ten finishes.[1]

Legacy

In February 2015 Kjus (and Aamodt) were selected as recipients of the Legends of Honor by the Vail Valley Foundation, and inducted into the International Ski Racing Hall of Fame.[2]

World Cup results

Season standings

SeasonAgeOverallSlalomGiant
 slalom 
Super-GDownhillCombined
19901958412929
1991209131123332
199221603035
19932212194379
199423715217271
19952462492693
199625114334
1997261332226162
1998271020291611
19992811414711
2000295351322253
2001303238851
200231618259152
20033231443511377
20043384814793
200534753722182
2006354357224112

Season titles

2 overall, 1 downhill, 3 combined

Season Discipline
1994Combined
1996Overall
1999Overall
Downhill
Combined
2001Combined

^official season title in the combined discipline
was not awarded until the 2007 season

Race victories

  • 18 wins – (10 DH, 2 SG, 2 GS, 4 K)
  • 60 podiums
Season Date Location Discipline
199416 Jan 1994Kitzbühel, AustriaCombined
19952 Feb 1995Vail, USASuper-G
199621 Dec 1995Kranjska Gora, SloveniaGiant slalom
29 Dec 1995Bormio, ItalyDownhill
6 Mar 1996Kvitfjell, NorwayDownhill
199726 Jan 1997Kitzbühel, AustriaCombined
2 Mar 1997Kvitfjell, NorwayDownhill
199912 Dec 1998Val-d'Isère, FranceDownhill
18 Dec 1998Val Gardena, ItalyDownhill
16 Jan 1999   Wengen, SwitzerlandDownhill
17 Jan 1999Combined
22 Jan 1999Kitzbühel, AustriaDownhill
10 Mar 1999Sierra Nevada, SpainDownhill
200121 Jan 2001Kitzbühel, AustriaCombined
200419 Dec 2003Val Gardena, ItalySuper-G
22 Jan 2004Kitzbühel, AustriaDownhill
20054 Dec 2004Beaver Creek, USAGiant slalom
10 Mar 2005   Lenzerheide, SwitzerlandDownhill

World Championships results

  Year   Age  Slalom  Giant 
 slalom 
Super-GDownhillCombined
19912010
1993221216cancelled1
199625104642
1997262225
19992821122
20013074DNS
200332DNS29132
200534DNF111336

Olympic results

  Year   Age  Slalom  Giant 
 slalom 
Super-GDownhillCombined
199423712181
1998278922
2002313DNF25
200635181414DNF SL1

References

Awards
Preceded by
Hanne Haugland
Nils Arne Eggen
Norwegian Sportsperson of the Year
1999
Succeeded by
Trine Hattestad
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.