Ingemar Stenmark

Jan Ingemar Stenmark (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈɪ̌ŋː(ɛ)mar ˈstêːnmark]; born 18 March 1956) is a Swedish former World Cup alpine ski racer. He is regarded as a legendary skier and one of the most prominent Swedish athletes ever,^[1] having won several Olympic medals and world cups during his career. When he retired in 1989, he held the record for the greatest number of international race wins, a record that was only broken in 2023 by Mikaela Shiffrin and remains unbroken amongst men. He competed for Tärna IK Fjällvinden.

Ingemar Stenmark

Stenmark in 2014
Personal information
Born	(1956-03-18) 18 March 1956 (age 69) Joesjö, Sweden
Occupation	Alpine skier
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Skiing career
Club	Tärna IK Fjällvinden
Olympics
Teams	3
Medals	3 (2 gold)
World Championships
Medals	7 (5 gold)
World Cup
Seasons	16 (1974–1989)
Wins	86 (46 GS, 40 SL)
Podiums	155
Overall titles	3
Discipline titles	16
Medal record International alpine ski competitions Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 2 0 1 World Championships 5 1 1 Total 7 1 2 World Cup standings podiums Event 1st 2nd 3rd Overall 3 6 0 Slalom 8 4 1 Giant 8 3 0 Total 19 13 1 World Cup race podiums Event 1st 2nd 3rd Slalom 40 29 12 Giant 46 13 13 Parallel 0 1 0 Combined 0 0 1 Total 86 43 26 Olympic Games 1980 Lake Placid Giant slalom 1980 Lake Placid Slalom 1976 Innsbruck Giant slalom World Championships 1976 Innsbruck Giant slalom 1978 Garmisch Giant slalom 1978 Garmisch Slalom 1980 Wilmington Giant slalom 1980 Wilmington Slalom 1982 Schladming Slalom 1982 Schladming Giant slalom

Biography

Stenmark and Lindsey Vonn in 2016

Stenmark in action in Alta Badia in 1986

Stenmark in 1979 at 23

Born in Joesjö, Storuman Municipality, Lapland, Stenmark and his family moved to Tärnaby near Norway when he was four years old. He became a childhood neighbour of Stig Strand (also born 1956), who tied Stenmark for the World Cup slalom title in 1983. Stenmark began skiing at the age of five and won his first national competition at age eight.

Competitive record

Stenmark made his World Cup debut in December 1973 at age 17. At the time of his retirement, he had won more international races than any other alpine skier to date: he took 86 World Cup wins (46 giant slaloms and 40 slaloms). He has since been passed by Mikaela Shiffrin.^[2] Stenmark won only in the two technical disciplines: slalom and giant slalom (the other events are downhill, super-G, first run in December 1982, and combined). He prioritized these disciplines over the high-speed downhill events, preferring to master the intricacies of skiing technique. His trainer, Hermann Nogler, once observed, "I watched him. He was always trying to find a better way, a smoother way, a faster way through the gates."^[3] He rarely competed in the other disciplines, as he was not comfortable with speeds in excess of 120 km/h (75 mph). He won first place overall in the 1976 World Cup, becoming the first Scandinavian to do so, his first of three straight World Cup titles (1976–78). Stenmark still holds the record for the biggest win margin in a World Cup alpine race: 4.06 seconds ahead of 2nd placed Bojan Križaj in Jasna on 4 February 1979.^[4] Stenmark was known as a quiet champion, with short, but polite, responses to media questions.^[1][5][6]

For his three straight World Cup titles (1976–78), Stenmark earned the Holmenkollen medal in 1979 (shared with Erik Håker and Raisa Smetanina). Stenmark also earned the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal twice (1975, 1978). His 1978 medal was shared with tennis player Björn Borg, making them the only two men to ever win the honor twice (female alpine skier Anja Pärson received the medal in 2006 and 2007). Additionally, Stenmark stands alone as the only male skier to win eight World Cup titles in a single discipline – both in slalom and giant slalom.

At the World Championships in 1978 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen West Germany, Stenmark won the slalom by two-thirds of a second and the giant slalom by over two seconds,^[5] and successfully defended both world titles at the Winter Olympics in 1980 at Lake Placid, which also were counted as world championships. At the next worlds in 1982 in Austria, he had a sub-standard first run in the giant slalom and was upset by American Steve Mahre and settled for silver.^[7][8][9] Stenmark rebounded in the slalom and became the first to win the same title in three consecutive world championships.^[10] At age 25, it was his final medal in a major competition.

Stenmark's exploits led to him being described as the "slalom king" meaning that when he was not allowed to participate in the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo by the International Ski Federation (FIS) for accepting promotional payments directly, rather than through the national ski federation, it was a major blow to the Swedish team's medal hopes.^[11][12] Hanni Wenzel of Liechtenstein was also banned; both were double gold medalists in 1980.^[13][14] Marc Girardelli, who was the best slalom racer during the 1983–84 season, was also banned for other reasons.^[15] Stenmark returned to Olympic competition in 1988 but was past his prime and did not medal despite achieving the fastest second run of the slalom competition.^[6][16]

He retired from World Cup competition at the end of the 1989 season in March, days before his 33rd birthday.^[17] At the time, he held the record for World Cup race wins, a record which held until 2023 when it was broken by Mikaela Shiffrin.^[18]

Other

During the years from 1976 to 1978 Stenmark, along with tennis player Björn Borg, became a national icon in Sweden.^[1] This was not changed by the fact that he moved to Monaco in 1980 for tax reasons.^[6][11] At age 40, he won the Swedish Superstars championship in 1996.^[19] On 26 December 2004, Stenmark survived the Indian Ocean earthquake while on vacation in Thailand. In 2015, he was a celebrity dancer on the Let's Dance 2015, where he teamed up with professional dancer Cecilia Ehrling.^[20]

He serves as an ambassador for the Börje Salming ALS Foundation, named after his close friend and Swedish ice hockey player who died of ALS in 2022.^[21]

In 2024, at the age of 68, Stenmark participated in the World Masters Athletic Championship where he jumped three meters and placed eighth overall.^[22]

Personal

Stenmark was married to Ann Uvhagen, a Lufthansa airline hostess, 1984–1987.^[6][23] They have a child, born 1984.^[24]

World Cup results

Season titles

• 19 titles – (3 overall, 8 GS,^[25] 8 SL)

Overall	Slalom	Giant slalom
1976 1977 1978	1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1983	1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1984
3	8	8

Season standings

Season	Age	Overall	Slalom	Giant  slalom	Super-G	Downhill	Combined
1974	17	12	6	—	not run	—	not awarded
1975	18	2	1	1		—
1976	19	1	1	1		—	—
1977	20	1	1	1		—	not awarded
1978	21	1	1	1		—
1979	22	5	1	1		—
1980	23	2	1	1		—	—
1981	24	2	1	1		—	15
1982	25	2	2	2		—	—
1983	26	2	1	2	not awarded (w/ GS)	—	23
1984	27	2	2	1		—	—
1985	28	6	3	10		—	25
1986	29	5	2	2	—	—	—
1987	30	6	2	7	—	—	—
1988	31	21	16	9	—	—	—
1989	32	17	21	4	—	—	—

Race victories

86 wins – (46 GS, 40 SL), 155 podiums

Season	Date	Location	Discipline
1975	17 December 1974	Madonna di Campiglio, Italy	Slalom
	12 January 1975	Wengen, Switzerland	Slalom
	21 February 1975	Naeba, Japan	Giant slalom
	2 March 1975	Garibaldi (Whistler), Canada	Giant slalom
	13 March 1975	Sun Valley, USA	Giant slalom
1976	15 December 1975	Sterzing / Vipiteno, Italy	Slalom
	11 January 1976	Wengen, Switzerland	Slalom
	24 January 1976	Kitzbühel, Austria	Slalom
	27 January 1976	Zwiesel, West Germany	Giant slalom
	7 March 1976	Copper Mountain, USA	Slalom
	14 March 1976	Aspen, USA	Slalom
1977	3 January 1977	Laax, Switzerland	Slalom
	10 January 1977	Berchtesgaden, W. Germany	Slalom
	16 January 1977	Kitzbühel, Austria	Slalom
	23 January 1977	Wengen, Switzerland	Slalom
	6 February 1977	St. Anton, Austria	Slalom
	6 March 1977	Sun Valley, USA	Giant slalom
	18 March 1977	Voss, Norway	Slalom
	20 March 1977	Åre, Sweden	Slalom
	21 March 1977		Giant slalom
	25 March 1977	Sierra Nevada, Spain	Giant slalom
1978	10 December 1977	Val d'Isère, France	Giant slalom
	13 December 1977	Madonna di Campiglio, Italy	Slalom
	14 December 1977		Giant slalom
	5 January 1978	Oberstaufen, West Germany	Slalom
	8 January 1978	Zwiesel, West Germany	Giant slalom
	9 January 1978		Slalom
	18 March 1978	Arosa, Switzerland	Giant slalom
1979	9 December 1978	Schladming, Austria	Giant slalom
	21 December 1978	Kranjska Gora, Yugoslavia	Slalom
	22 December 1978		Giant slalom
	7 January 1979	Courchevel, France	Giant slalom
	16 January 1979	Adelboden, Switzerland	Giant slalom
	23 January 1979	Steinach, Austria	Giant slalom
	4 February 1979	Jasná, Czechoslovakia	Giant slalom
	10 February 1979	Åre, Sweden	Giant slalom
	11 February 1979		Slalom
	4 March 1979	Lake Placid, USA	Giant slalom
	12 March 1979	Heavenly Valley, USA	Giant slalom
	17 March 1979	Furano, Japan	Slalom
	19 March 1979		Giant slalom
1980	8 December 1979	Val d'Isère, France	Giant slalom
	11 December 1979	Madonna di Campiglio, Italy	Slalom
	12 December 1979		Giant slalom
	21 January 1980	Adelboden, Switzerland	Giant slalom
	27 January 1980	Chamonix, France	Slalom
	27 February 1980	Waterville Valley, USA	Slalom
	1 March 1980	Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada	Giant slalom
	10 March 1980	Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy	Slalom
	11 March 1980		Giant slalom
	13 March 1980	Saalbach, Austria	Giant slalom
	15 March 1980		Slalom
1981	9 December 1980	Madonna di Campiglio, Italy	Slalom
	10 December 1980		Giant slalom
	6 January 1981	Morzine, France	Giant slalom
	18 January 1981	Kitzbühel, Austria	Slalom
	26 January 1981	Adelboden, Switzerland	Giant slalom
	1 February 1981	St. Anton, Austria	Slalom
	2 February 1981	Schladming, Austria	Giant slalom
	8 February 1981	Oslo, Norway	Slalom
	11 February 1981	Voss, Norway	Giant slalom
	14 February 1981	Åre, Sweden	Giant slalom
1982	9 January 1982	Morzine, France	Giant slalom
	12 January 1982	Bad Wiessee, West Germany	Slalom
	17 January 1982	Kitzbühel, Austria	Slalom
	19 January 1982	Adelboden, Switzerland	Giant slalom
	9 February 1982	Kirchberg, Austria	Giant slalom
1983	14 December 1982	Courmayeur, Italy	Slalom
	23 January 1983	Kitzbühel, Austria	Slalom
	11 February 1983	Markstein, France	Slalom
	13 February 1983	Todtnau, West Germany	Giant slalom
	26 February 1983	Gällivare, Sweden	Giant slalom
1984	13 December 1983	Courmayeur, Italy	Slalom
	20 December 1983	Madonna di Campiglio, Italy	Slalom
	10 January 1984	Adelboden, Switzerland	Giant slalom
	17 January 1984	Parpan, Switzerland	Slalom
	23 January 1984	Kirchberg, Austria	Giant slalom
	4 February 1984	Borovetz, Bulgaria	Giant slalom
	7 March 1984	Vail, USA	Giant slalom
1986	15 December 1985	Alta Badia, Italy	Giant slalom
	25 January 1986	St. Anton, Austria	Slalom
	27 February 1986	Hemsedal, Norway	Giant slalom
	18 March 1986	Lake Placid, USA	Giant slalom
1987	29 November 1986	Sestriere, Italy	Slalom
	14 February 1987	Markstein, France	Slalom
1989	19 February 1989	Aspen, USA	Giant slalom

Podiums

Discipline	1st	2nd	3rd	Total
Slalom	40	29	12	81
Giant	46	13	13	72
Parallel	0	1	0	1
Combined	0	0	1	1
	86	43	26	155

World championship results

Year	Age	Slalom	Giant   slalom	Super-G	Downhill	Combined
1974	17	DNF	9	not run	—	—
1976	19	DNF2	3		—	—
1978	21	1	1		—	—
1980	23	1	1		—	—
1982	25	1	2		—	—
1985	28	4	DNF		—	—
1987	30	5	10	—	—	—
1989	32	DNF2	6	—	—	—

From 1948 through 1980, the Winter Olympics were also the World Championships for alpine skiing.
At the World Championships from 1954 through 1980, the combined was a "paper race" using the results of the three events (DH, GS, SL).

Olympic results

Year	Age	Slalom	Giant   slalom	Super-G	Downhill	Combined
1976	19	DNF2	3	not run	—	not run
1980	23	1	1		—
1984	27	Banned
1988	31	5	DNF2	—	—	—

• Stenmark and fellow reigning double Olympic champion Hanni Wenzel were banned from the 1984 Olympics for having accepted promotional payments directly, rather than through their national ski federations.

Other honours

• Jerring Award: 1979, 1980^[26]
• H. M. The King's Medal: 1978^[27]