Maria Höfl-Riesch

Maria Höfl-Riesch (German pronunciation: [maˈʁiːa ˌhøːfl̩ ˈʁiːʃ] ^ⓘ; née Riesch, born 24 November 1984) is a former German alpine ski racer. She is a three-time Olympic champion, two-time World champion, an overall World Cup champion and five-time World junior champion.

Maria Höfl-Riesch

Riesch in 2009
Personal information
Born	(1984-11-24) 24 November 1984 (age 39) Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria, West Germany
Occupation	Alpine skier
Height	182 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Skiing career
Disciplines	Downhill, super-G, slalom, combined, giant slalom
Club	SC Partenkirchen
World Cup debut	16 February 2001  (age 16)
Retired	20 March 2014  (age 29)
Website	maria.com.de
Olympics
Teams	2 – (2010, 2014)
Medals	4 (3 gold)
World Championships
Teams	5 – (2003, 2007–13)
Medals	6 (2 gold)
World Cup
Seasons	13 – (2002–2014)
Wins	27
Podiums	81
Overall titles	1 – (2011)
Discipline titles	5 – (1 DH, 1 SG, 2 SL, 1 SC)
Medal record Women's alpine skiing Representing  Germany World Cup race podiums Event 1st 2nd 3rd Slalom 9 9 7 Giant slalom 0 2 2 Downhill 11 5 10 Super-G 3 8 5 Combined 4 3 3 Total 27 27 27 International competitions Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 3 1 0 World Championships 2 0 4 World Junior Championships 5 2 2 Total 10 3 6 Olympic Games 2010 Vancouver Combined 2010 Vancouver Slalom 2014 Sochi Combined 2014 Sochi Super-G World Championships 2009 Val d'Isère Slalom 2013 Schladming Combined 2011 Garmisch Super-G 2011 Garmisch Downhill 2013 Schladming Downhill 2013 Schladming Team event Junior World Ski Championships 2001 Verbier Combined 2002 Tarvisio Super-G 2003 Briançonnais Combined 2004 Maribor Downhill 2004 Maribor Giant slalom 2001 Verbier Super-G 2002 Tarvisio Slalom 2001 Verbier Downhill 2003 Briançonnais Giant slalom

Riesch in January 2011

Höfl-Riesch made her World Cup debut in February 2001 and won gold medals in slalom and super combined at the 2010 Winter Olympics. She won the World Cup overall title in 2011.^[1] At the 2014 Winter Olympics, she defended her super combined title to win her third Olympic gold medal, and also won a silver medal in the super-G.

Career

Born in Garmisch-Partenkirchen,^[2] Höfl-Riesch was a prodigious talent as a junior and won seven medals in all of the disciplines at four Junior World Championships, including three gold medals in combined and super-G.^[3]

As the racing careers of Martina Ertl-Renz and Hilde Gerg concluded, Höfl-Riesch rose as the leading female racer on the German national team. Injuries cut short her seasons in 2005 and 2006, causing her to miss the 2005 World Championships and the 2006 Winter Olympics.

During the 2009 season, Höfl-Riesch won four slalom events on the World Cup tour and won the gold medal in the slalom at the World Championships. Prior to 2009, her most successful season was in 2004, when she finished third in the overall World Cup standings, with three race victories. She also finished third in the overall standings in 2008. In the 2007 season she won her second downhill race, at Lake Louise, Canada.

Riesch won two gold medals at the 2010 Winter Olympics, in the super combined and slalom. After finishing second in the overall World Cup standings in 2009 and 2010, Riesch built a big lead early in the 2011 season which was enough to win the overall title, besting three-time defending champion Lindsey Vonn of the U.S. by just three points. At the World Cup finals in Lenzerheide, Vonn took the overall lead after the downhill, then Riesch reclaimed it after the slalom;^[4] the super-G and giant slalom races were cancelled due to poor conditions.^[1] She retired after the 2014 season after crashing in the downhill World Cup Final.^[5]

Personal

Höfl-Riesch is also a nationally ranked tennis player and a cyclist.^[6] Her younger sister, Susanne Riesch, is also a former World Cup ski racer, specializing in the slalom.^[7] Her uncle, Wolfgang Zimmerer was a bobsledder during the 1960s and 1970s and competed for West Germany in the Winter Olympics, winning gold with Peter Utzschneider at the Two-man bobsleigh during the 1972 Winter Olympics.^[8] She has been a chief constable in the Bundeszollverwaltung (German Federal Customs Service) during her sports career.

One of her closest friends (and major rival) on the World Cup tour was Lindsey Vonn of the United States.

Höfl-Riesch married her manager Marcus Höfl on 14 April 2011.^[9]

At a height of 1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in), she was one of the tallest women on the World Cup circuit.

World Cup results

Season titles

• 6 titles – (1 overall, 1 downhill, 1 super-G, 2 slalom, 1 combined)

Season	Discipline
2008	Super-G
	Combined
2009	Slalom
2010	Slalom
2011	Overall
2014	Downhill

Season standings

Season	Age	Overall	Slalom	Giant  slalom	Super-G	Downhill	Combined
2001	16	109	–	–	42	—	—
2002	17	96	46	50	—	—	—
2003	18	32	40	42	37	14	3
2004	19	3	9	18	5	7	—
2005	20	43	44	32	26	27	—
2006	21	69	–	49	35	44	—
2007	22	14	25	22	18	7	36
2008	23	3	8	25	1	9	1
2009	24	2	1	15	10	3	4
2010	25	2	1	8	9	2	5
2011	26	1	3	8	2	2	3
2012	27	3	7	16	6	4	4
2013	28	2	9	6	5	3	9
2014	29	2	5	14	5	1	3

Source:^[10]

Race victories

• 27 wins – (11 DH, 3 SG, 9 SL, 4 SC) + 1 NTE

Season	Date	Location	Discipline
2004 3 victories (1 DH, 1 SG, 1 SL)	30 Jan 2004	Haus im Ennstal, Austria	Downhill
	1 Feb 2004		Super-G
	29 Feb 2004	Levi, Finland	Slalom
2007	1 Dec 2006	Lake Louise, Canada	Downhill
2008 (1 SG, 1 SC)	21 Jan 2008	Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy	Super-G
	24 Feb 2008	Whistler, Canada	Super combined
2009 5 victories (4 SL, 1 SC)	14 Dec 2008	La Molina, Spain	Slalom
	29 Dec 2008	Semmering, Austria	Slalom
	4 Jan 2009	Zagreb, Croatia	Slalom
	11 Jan 2009	Maribor, Slovenia	Slalom
	20 Feb 2009	Tarvisio, Italy	Super combined
2010 3 victories (1 SL, 2 DH)	14 Nov 2009	Levi, Finland	Slalom
	30 Jan 2010	St. Moritz, Switzerland	Downhill
	10 Mar 2010	Garmisch, Germany	Downhill
2011 7 victories (3 DH, 1 SL, 1 SC, 1 SG, 1 NTE)	3 Dec 2010	Lake Louise, Canada	Downhill
	4 Dec 2010		Downhill
	11 Jan 2011	Flachau, Austria	Slalom
	22 Jan 2011	Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy	Downhill
	25 Feb 2011	Åre, Sweden	Super combined
	27 Feb 2011		Super-G
	20 Mar 2011	Lenzerheide, Switzerland	Team event
2012 3 victories (1 DH, 1 SL, 1 SC)	29 Jan 2012	St. Moritz, Switzerland	Super combined
	18 Feb 2012	Sochi, Russia	Downhill
	10 Mar 2012	Åre, Sweden	Slalom
2013	10 Nov 2012	Levi, Finland	Slalom
2014 3 victories (3 DH)	6 Dec 2013	Lake Louise, Canada	Downhill
	7 Dec 2013		Downhill
	24 Jan 2014	Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy	Downhill

World Championship results

Year	Age	Slalom	Giant   slalom	Super-G	Downhill	Combined
2003	18	DNF1	DNF1	DNF	17	5
2005	20	injured, did not compete
2007	22	—	23	10	9	7
2009	24	1	28	8	10	4
2011	26	4	DNF2	3	3	11
2013	28	DNF2	9	DNF	3	1

Olympic results

Year	Age	Slalom	Giant   slalom	Super-G	Downhill	Combined
2006	21	injured, did not compete
2010	25	1	10	8	8	1
2014	29	4	DNS1	2	13	1

See also

• List of FIS Alpine Ski World Cup women's race winners

References

1. "Cancellation gives Riesch overall crown". Ski Racing.com. 19 March 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
2. Harry, Nutt (14 February 2009). "Kratzer am Kinn". Frankfurter Rundschau (in German). Archived from the original on 9 March 2014. Retrieved 21 March 2011.
3. "Alpine Ski". Retrieved 21 October 2022.
4. "Maze edges Schild for her first World Cup slalom win; Riesch takes slim lead in overall". Ski Racing.com. 18 March 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
5. "Maria Hoefl-Riesch has no second thoughts about retirement". NBC Sports. August 2014. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
6. "Riesch wins gold". Deutsche Welle. 19 February 2010. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
7. "Susanne Riesch beendet ihre Karriere" [Susanne Riesch has ended her career]. WirtschaftsBlatt (in German). 6 January 2015. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
8. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Wolfgang Zimmerer". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020.
9. "Nun startet sie als Höfl-Riesch". faz.net (in German). 14 April 2011. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
10. "Maria Joefl-Riesch". FIS. World Cup season standings. Retrieved 8 March 2014.

External links

• Maria Höfl-Riesch at FIS (alpine)
• Maria Höfl-Riesch at Olympics.com
• Maria Höfl-Riesch at Olympedia
• Maria Höfl-Riesch at the German Olympic Sports Confederation (in German)
• Maria Höfl-Riesch at Ski-DB Alpine Ski Database
• Photo report: Celebrating Maria Riesch
• Official website