Bjarne Solbakken
Bjarne Solbakken 
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| nation |
 Norway
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| birthday | 18th May 1977 (age 43) | ||||||||||||||||
| place of birth | Ålesund , Norway | ||||||||||||||||
| size | 180 cm | ||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 82 kg | ||||||||||||||||
| Career | |||||||||||||||||
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| discipline |
Super-G , downhill , giant slalom , combination |
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| society | Stranda Idrettslag | ||||||||||||||||
| status | resigned | ||||||||||||||||
| End of career | 2008 | ||||||||||||||||
| Placements in the Alpine Ski World Cup | |||||||||||||||||
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Bjarne Solbakken (born May 18, 1977 in Ålesund ) is a former Norwegian ski racer . He took part in two Olympic Games and four world championships. From 1998 to 2008 he started in the Ski World Cup and was able to win a race.
biography
After some good results in FIS races , Solbakken took part in his first race in the European Cup in December 1996 . He had regular appearances from the 1997/98 season , in which, completely unexpectedly, he immediately won the first downhill run after his best EC result was a 49th place. He was unable to repeat this success at first, 12th place in the downhill from Altenmarkt-Zauchensee remained his second-best result of the season. In the 1998/99 season he made it onto the podium three times and finished sixth overall. At the end of the 1999/2000 season he celebrated his second European Cup victory in the giant slalom in Kappl , was fourth in the giant slalom classification and seventh overall.
Solbakken already had his first two starts in the World Cup in January and March 1998, but remained well outside the points. Even in his next four races a year later he was unsuccessful. From the 1999/2000 season he started regularly in the World Cup and took his first points on November 24th with rank 27 in the giant slalom in Vail . The best result of this winter was the 13th place in the giant slalom in Kranjska Gora on March 13th. The following season he finished eleventh in the Super-G of Beaver Creek and reached tenth place in the Super-G at his first major event, the 2001 World Cup in St. Anton .
In the 2001/02 season Solbakken drove in the giant slalom in Alta Badia for the first time in the World Cup among the top ten. Things went even better for the Norwegian at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City . There he reached fifth place in the Super-G and sixth place in the giant slalom as well as twelfth in the downhill. In the next season Solbakken came into the top 10 twice, but at the 2003 World Championships he had a little less success and was 17th in the downhill and 19th in the Super-G and combined.
The 2003/04 season was Solbakken's most successful: In the downhill from Beaver Creek on December 5, he came second with Stephan Eberharter and thus for the first time on the podium, two days later he celebrated in the Super-G at the same place in front of the two Austrians Hermann Maier and Hans Knauß his only World Cup victory. Two more podium places followed with third place in the giant slalom in Flachau and second place in the Super-G in Kvitfjell . At the end of the season, he finished fourth in the Super-G classification and eleventh overall. In 2004 he became Norwegian giant slalom champion for the third time after 2000 and 2001 .
In the next few years Solbakken was unable to repeat these successes. In the 2004/05 season he fell far behind and the 14th place in the downhill from Beaver Creek was his best result. At the World Championships in Bormio , he finished eleventh in the giant slalom and 13th in the combination. In the 2005/06 season he came in eleventh place in the Super-G of Kitzbühel again just close to the top 10, but otherwise usually only achieved results behind the best 20. The results at the 2006 Winter Olympics were accordingly : 20 in the giant slalom, 26th in the super-G and 29th in the downhill.
On November 24, 2006, Solbakken suffered a cruciate ligament rupture while training to depart Lake Louise . At first it was feared that this would mean the end of the entire season for the Norwegian, but on January 20, 2007 he was able to contest his next World Cup race again. In February he took part in the 2007 World Cup in Åre , Sweden , where he finished 19th in the Super-G and 29th in the downhill. In the World Cup, Solbakken never reached the points again and so he announced his retirement from ski racing after the 2007/08 season.
successes
winter Olympics
- Salt Lake City 2002 : 5th Super-G, 6th giant slalom, 12th downhill
- Turin 2006 : 20th giant slalom, 26th Super-G, 29th downhill
World championships
- St. Anton 2001 : 10th Super-G
- St. Moritz 2003 : 17th descent, 19th super-G, 19th combination
- Bormio 2005 : 11th giant slalom, 13th combination, 18th Super-G, 26th descent
- Åre 2007 : 19th Super-G, 29th downhill
World cup
- 2003/04 season : 4th Super-G classification
A total of 4 podium places, including 1 victory:
| date | place | country | discipline |
|---|---|---|---|
| December 7, 2003 | Beaver Creek | United States | Super G |
European Cup
- 1998/99 season : 6th overall ranking, 6th giant slalom, 9th Super-G
- 1999/00 season : 7th overall ranking, 4th giant slalom
A total of 9 podium places, including 2 wins:
| date | place | country | discipline |
|---|---|---|---|
| December 17, 1997 | Piancavallo | Italy | Departure |
| March 18, 2000 | Kappl | Austria | Giant slalom |
More Achievements
- Triple Norwegian champion in giant slalom in 2000, 2001 and 2004
- 20 victories in FIS races
Web links
- Bjarne Solbakken in the database of the International Ski Federation (English)
- Bjarne Solbakken in the database of Ski-DB (English)
- Bjarne Solbakken in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Solbakken, Bjarne |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Norwegian ski racer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 18, 1977 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Ålesund , Norway |