Lasse Kjus

Lasse Kjus

Kjus in January 2006
Disciplines	Downhill, Super-G, Giant Slalom, Slalom, Combined
Club	Baerums SK
Born	January 14, 1971 (1971-01-14) Oslo, Norway
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
World Cup debut	January 14, 1990 (age 19)
Retired	March 2006
Olympics
Teams	4 - (1994-2006)
Medals	5 (1 gold)
World Championships
Teams	8 - (1991-2005)
Medals	11 (3 gold)
World Cup
Seasons	17
Wins	18
Podiums	60
Overall titles	2 - (1996, 1999)
Discipline titles	4 - (1 DH, 3 K)
Medal record Men's alpine skiing Competitor for Norway Olympic Games Gold 1994 Lillehammer Combined Silver 1998 Nagano Downhill Silver 1998 Nagano Combined Silver 2002 Salt Lake City Downhill Bronze 2002 Salt Lake City Giant Slalom World Championships Gold 1993 Morioka Combined Gold 1999 Vail Giant slalom Gold 1999 Vail Super-G Silver 1996 Sierra Nevada Combined Silver 1997 Sestrières Downhill Silver 1997 Sestrières Super-G Silver 1997 Sestrières Giant slalom Silver 1999 Vail Downhill Silver 1999 Vail Slalom Silver 1999 Vail Combined Silver 2003 St. Moritz Combined |}

Lasse Kjus (born 14 January 1971) is a retired Norwegian alpine ski racer who has won the overall World Cup twice, an Olympic gold medal, and several World Championships. His combined career total of 16 Olympic and World Championship medals ranks second all-time behind fellow Norwegian Kjetil André Aamodt, third is Austrian Benjamin Raich with 13 medals.

Career

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 five events at the 1999 World Championships in Vail, Colorado. Five skiers had previously earned four medals at a single World Championship (through 1980 the World Championships were held together with the Olympic Winter Games): 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, at a single championship.

He started off on February 2 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 February 9 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 February 12, 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 Jan. 17, 1999, will never forget how he got out of the starting gate, got cought 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. Nicely documented on a YouTube video

World Cup victories

Lasse Kjus has won 18 World Cup events: 10 in Downhill, 2 in Super-G, 2 in Giant Slalom and 4 in the Combined Event.

His first World Cup race was in January 1990 in Alta Badia, and his last World Cup race was in March 2006 in Åre.

Season Titles

2 Overall, 1 Downhill, 3 Combined

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

Individual victories

18 race wins (10 Downhill, 2 Super-G, 2 Giant Slalom, 4 Combined)

Season	Date	Location	Race
1994	16 Jan 1994	Kitzbühel, Austria	Combined
1995	2 Feb 1995	Vail, USA	Super-G
1996	21 Dec 1995	Kranjska Gora, Slovenia	Giant Slalom
	29 Dec 1995	Bormio, Italy	Downhill
	6 Mar 1996	Kvitfjell, Norway	Downhill
1997	26 Jan 1997	Kitzbühel, Austria	Combined
	2 Mar 1997	Kvitfjell, Norway	Downhill
1999	12 Dec 1998	Val-d'Isère, France	Downhill
	18 Dec 1998	Val Gardena, Italy	Downhill
	16 Jan 1999	Wengen, Switzerland	Downhill
	17 Jan 1999		Combined
	22 Jan 1999	Kitzbühel, Austria	Downhill
	10 Mar 1999	Sierra Nevada, Spain	Downhill
2001	21 Jan 2001	Kitzbühel, Austria	Combined
2004	19 Dec 2003	Val Gardena, Italy	Super-G
	22 Jan 2004	Kitzbühel, Austria	Downhill
2005	4 Dec 2004	Beaver Creek, USA	Giant Slalom
	10 Mar 2005	Lenzerheide, Switzerland	Downhill

External links

• Lasse Kjus at the International Ski Federation
• FIS-ski.com – Lasse Kjus – World Cup season standings
• Ski-db.com - results - Lasse Kjus
• Pictures of Lasse Kjus