Bernhard Russi

	Bernhard Russi
nation	Switzerland
birthday	August 20, 1948 (age 73)
place of birth	Andermatt , Switzerland
Size	183 cm
Career
discipline	Downhill , giant slalom
society	SC Gotthard Andermatt
status	resigned
career end	January 29, 1978
medal table
winter Olympics
Alpine World Ski Championships
	Placements in the Alpine Ski World Cup
Individual World Cup debut	January 4, 1968
Individual World Cup victories	10
Overall World Cup	5. ( 1970/71 , 1971/72 , 1976/77 )
Downhill World Cup	1. (1970/71, 1971/72)
Giant Slalom World Cup	8. (1970/71)

Bernhard Russi (born August 20, 1948 in Andermatt ) is a former Swiss ski racer . Active in the 1970s, he was one of the top downhill athletes in the world at the time . Russi won an Olympic gold medal and two world titles. He also won two disciplines in the Alpine Ski World Cup and won ten World Cup races.

Since the end of his sporting career, Russi has worked, among other things, as an advertising ambassador, as a co-commentator and race analyst for Swiss television and as a technical advisor to the World Ski Federation FIS . As a planner of numerous new downhill slopes, he made a significant contribution to the further development of alpine skiing. Due to his diverse tasks and numerous media appearances, he is still one of the most prominent personalities in Switzerland.

skiing career

Russi grew up in Andermatt in the canton of Uri . After leaving school, he completed an apprenticeship as a draftsman . In 1967 he was accepted into the junior squad of the Central Swiss Ski Association and made his debut in the Ski World Cup on January 4, 1968 in the giant slalom in Bad Hindelang . In early 1969, the then largely unknown Russi was a stuntman on the set of the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service . During the recording of a chase on skis from the Schilthorn , he fell badly and broke a cervical vertebra.

After several months of injury, Russi denied on December 14, 1969 in Val-d'Isère his first World Cup downhill, which he finished in 14th place. He scored World Cup points for the first time on January 10, 1970 when he finished tenth on the Lauberhorn downhill in Wengen , and with fourth place on February 1, 1970 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen he secured qualification for the 1970 World Championships in Gröden . On February 15, 1970, the last day of the World Championships, Russi surprisingly won the downhill gold medal on the Saslong slope, ahead of Austria's Karl Cordin and Australia's Malcolm Milne . His trainer Paul Berlinger had scraped off all the ski wax immediately before the start because the Swiss who had started earlier had been too slow. Despite these adverse conditions and in pain - he had broken his hand a week before the race - Russi set the best time. Since in the 1969/70 season the World Cup races were also part of the World Cup rankings, he also won his first World Cup race. Because of this success, he was honored as Swiss athlete of the year .

In the 1970/71 World Cup season , Russi was finally able to establish himself at the top of the world. With two victories in Megève and Sugarloaf , he won the downhill discipline classification and he also won a giant slalom at Mont Sainte-Anne (this was his only success in this discipline). Also in the 1971/72 World Cup season , Russi was the world's best downhill skier and was the fastest in three races ( St. Moritz , Crystal Mountain , Val Gardena). The 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo were the high point of his career. His trainer deliberately used the trick of scraping away the wax, which he had accidentally discovered two years earlier in Val Gardena. By a large margin, Russi won the Olympic gold medal on February 7, 1972 ahead of his compatriot Roland Collombin and the Austrian Heinrich Messner (the race also counted as a world championship). He was again voted Swiss Sportsman of the Year, also in 1972 he received the Skieur d'Or and Étoile d'Or honors .

Although Russi was able to win two more World Cup downhill runs in the 1972/73 season (Grindelwald, St. Anton am Arlberg ), he was increasingly overshadowed by Roland Collombin and especially by Franz Klammer . The best World Cup result of the 1973/74 season was a third place. The 1974 World Championships in St. Moritz ended in disappointment for Russi, when he only finished 13th in the downhill. In 1975 and 1976 he remained without a win in the World Cup, but achieved six podium finishes. At the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck , he initially set the best time in the Patscherkofel downhill , but was then beaten by Franz Klammer and won the silver medal.

In the 1976/77 season , Russi won the Morzine downhill and also finished third six times. He started with a B license for the first time. This allowed him to practice skiing as a professional and independently negotiate advertising contracts. However, to take part in the training of the Swiss national team, he had to pay the association a lump sum, and he also had to bear transport and travel costs himself. He was also excluded from participating in further Olympic Games. At the beginning of the 1977/78 season, Russi once again made it onto the podium. The 1978 World Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen were again disappointing: after the descent, which he finished in 14th place, he announced his immediate retirement from top-level sport on February 2, 1978.

advertising and television

After completing his career, Russi remained professionally connected to alpine skiing in a variety of ways. As early as 1976 he began to write columns for the tabloid Blick , in which he regularly commented on events in the Ski World Cup and current developments. Since the 1978/79 World Cup season, he was a co-commentator on the television broadcasts of men's ski races on Swiss television (since 1985 mostly together with Matthias Hüppi ). There were also detailed race analyzes after particularly important races. In 1987 he introduced tracking shots, in which he drove down the slopes with a camera before the start of the race, giving the spectators the perspective of the athletes. In the meantime, he has increased these trips to “car chases” with several actors overtaking each other. He completed his last tracking shot before leaving the 2003 World Championships in St. Moritz . After 31 years working in television, Russi last worked as a co-commentator on February 19, 2017 during the 2017 World Cup .

In 1978, Russi appeared as a singer in a hit show on Swiss television, but there were no further musical appearances in public. In Germany he became known in 1982 with the television show Riddle Flight , in which he formed the field team together with Günther Jauch , who was at the beginning of his career at the time.

In 1979 Russi's management agency IMG negotiated a contract with the automobile importer Emil Frey AG . The ski star should advertise for the British brand Jaguar and thereby improve the image of the manufacturer British Leyland . Without further ado, company owner Walter Frey changed the contract to the Japanese car brand Subaru . In his opinion, their four-wheel drive models , which were about to be launched in Switzerland, would suit Russi better. Since then he has appeared regularly in Subaru commercials and over time has developed into an advertising icon. In 1982 he took part in the Paris-Dakar Rally in a Subaru 1800 .

Russi is also an advertising medium for various other companies. These include beverage maker Thurella , wealth management company Schroders , watchmaker Alfex, eyewear chain Visilab and sports retail group Intersport .

Planning of ski slopes

In 1976 Russi founded the company Alpin Consult AG, with which he initially ran a hotel and a nightclub in Andermatt . In the mid-1980s, the FIS hired him as a technical advisor. Since then, the trained draftsman has been designing new downhill slopes or redesigning existing ones on behalf of the World Ski Association. With the pistes he planned, Russi had a major impact on modern descents; the former French ski racer Jean-Claude Killy described him as the “ Picasso of skiing”.

It all started with the World Cup course in Åre in 1986 and the Olympic downhill course in Nakiska near Calgary in 1988 . When Vail won the 1989 World Championship, the relatively flat and unstructured terrain presented a particular challenge for Russi. To make the Centennial run more attractive, he had a bobsleigh-like section built, the Rattlesnake . As the only athlete, the German Hansjörg Tauscher managed to drive through this chicane on an optimal line, which made him surprisingly world champion.

The Face de Bellevarde in Val-d'Isère , which Russi designed in view of the 1992 Winter Olympics, represented a turning point in the development of downhill skiing – moving away from relatively straight “highways” that were not exciting for TV viewers, towards technically demanding slopes . He had to put up with the criticism that the slope was too winding and not tailored to the downhill skis used at the time. The slope was ahead of its time and triggered a surge in innovation in the ski industry.

The downhill course for the 1993 World Championships in Morioka was followed by the Olympiabakken in Kvitfjell for the 1994 Winter Olympics. Russi himself describes it as his favorite course; with her, his attitude prevailed, according to which a downhill slope does not just have to be fast, but can be designed attractively with long curves and jumps. Courses for the 1997 World Championships in Sestriere and the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano followed . With the 1999 World Championships in mind, Russi designed the Birds of Prey in Beaver Creek , which is considered one of the world's most difficult slopes. Like the piste in Kvitfjell, it has been a regular part of the Ski World Cup program ever since.

After designing the downhill course for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City , Russi designed the Corviglia course for the 2003 World Championships in St. Moritz , which has a starting section with a 100% (45°) gradient, making it the steepest in the world. In 2007 and 2009 additional courses for women's races were added in Åre and Val-d'Isère. He also oversaw the construction of the Rosa Khutor downhill course in Krasnaya Polyana near Sochi for the 2014 Winter Olympics , assisted by Paul Accola on the dredging work.

Russi traveled to South Korea 30 times to plan the downhill slope for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Jeongseon , the first time in 2001.

Other activities and private matters

Since 1998 Russi has been a delegate of the board of directors of the ski fashion company Bogner and heads its Swiss branch. He worked as a technical consultant for his former ski outfitter Kneissl , and has held this position at the Völkl company since 1993 . He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Andermatt Swiss Alps AG . This company of Samih Sawiris ' Orascom Development Holding plans, builds and markets a tourism resort in Andermatt.

Russi has a son from his first marriage to Michèle Rubli (three-time Swiss champion in 1970) and a daughter from his second marriage to the Swede Mari Bergström. His hobbies include playing golf and mountaineering (according to his own statements up to a difficulty level of 6c). He is President of the Gotthard Golf Club, where he designed the golf course in Realp himself. He also supports the development aid organization Right To Play as an athlete ambassador and is a member of the support association of the aid organization Children in Need .

successes

Olympic games

Sapporo 1972 : 1st Downhill
Innsbruck 1976 : 2nd departure

World Championships

Val Gardena 1970 : 1st descent
Sapporo 1972 : 1st Downhill
St Moritz 1974 : 13th descent
Innsbruck 1976 : 2nd departure
Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1978 : 14th descent

World Cup Ratings

season	total		Departure		giant slalom
season	place	Points	place	Points	place	Points
1969/70	19	37	5.	37	–	–
1970/71	5.	95	1.	70	8th.	25
1971/72	5.	114	1.	110	23	4
1972/73	6.	106	2.	96	–	–
1973/74	17	40	4.	40	–	–
1974/75	11.	58	4.	58	–	–
1975/76	8th.	72	3.	66	–	–
1976/77	5.	148	3.	85	–	–
1977/78	28	20	12.	20	–	–

World Cup victories

date	location	country	discipline
February 15, 1970	Val Gardena	Italy	Departure *
January 31, 1971	Megeve	France	Departure
February 13, 1971	Mont Sainte Anne	Canada	giant slalom
February 18, 1971	Sugarloaf	USA	Departure
December 5, 1971	St. Moritz	Switzerland	Departure
February 25, 1972	Crystal Mountain	USA	Departure
March 15, 1972	Val Gardena	Italy	Departure
January 13, 1973	Grindelwald	Switzerland	Departure
February 3, 1973	St Anton am Arlberg	Austria	Departure
January 30, 1977	morzine	France	Departure