Lasse Kjus

Lasse Kjus

— Alpine skier —
Kjus in January 2006
Disciplines	Downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom, combined
Club	Bærums SK
Born	(1971-01-14) 14 January 1971 Oslo, Norway
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
World Cup debut	14 January 1990 (age 19)
Retired	March 2006 (age 35)
Olympics
Teams	4 – (1994–2006)
Medals	5 (1 gold)
World Championships
Teams	8 – (1991–2005)
Medals	11 (3 gold)
World Cup
Seasons	17 – (1990–2006)
Wins	18 – (10 DH, 2 SG, 2 GS, 4 K)
Podiums	60
Overall titles	2 – (1996, 1999)
Discipline titles	4 – (1 DH, 3 K)
Medal record Men's alpine skiing Representing  Norway International alpine ski competitions Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 1 3 1 World Championships 3 8 0 Total 4 11 1 Olympic Games 1994 Lillehammer Combined 1998 Nagano Downhill 1998 Nagano Combined 2002 Salt Lake City Downhill 2002 Salt Lake City Giant slalom World Championships 1993 Morioka Combined 1999 Vail Super-G 1999 Vail Giant slalom 1996 Sierra Nevada Combined 1997 Sestriere Downhill 1997 Sestriere Super-G 1997 Sestriere Giant slalom 1999 Vail Downhill 1999 Vail Slalom 1999 Vail Combined 2003 St. Moritz Combined Junior World Ski Championships 1990 Zinal Giant slalom 1990 Zinal Downhill 1990 Zinal Combined 1990 Zinal Super-G 1990 Zinal Slalom

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.

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

Season titles

2 overall, 1 downhill, 3 combined

^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

World Championships results

Olympic results

References

External links

• Lasse Kjus at the International Ski Federation
• FIS-ski.com – Lasse Kjus – World Cup season standings
• Ski-db.com – results – Lasse Kjus
• Sports-Reference.com – Olympic results – Lasse Kjus
• Olympic.org – Lasse Kjus