Ivica Kostelić

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Ivica Kostelić Alpine skiing
Ivica Kostelić in October 2010
Ivica Kostelić in October 2010
nation CroatiaCroatia Croatia
birthday 23rd November 1979 (age 40)
place of birth ZagrebYugoslaviaYugoslavia Socialist Federal RepublicYugoslavia 
size 182 cm
Weight 94 kg
Career
discipline Downhill , Super-G , giant slalom ,
slalom , combination
society SK Zagreb
status resigned
End of career January 13, 2017
Medal table
Olympic games 0 × gold 4 × silver 0 × bronze
World championships 1 × gold 1 × silver 1 × bronze
Junior World Championship 0 × gold 0 × silver 1 × bronze
Olympic rings winter Olympics
silver Turin 2006 combination
silver Vancouver 2010 Super combination
silver Vancouver 2010 slalom
silver Sochi 2014 Super combination
FIS Alpine World Ski Championships
gold St. Moritz 2003 slalom
bronze Garmisch-Partenk. 2011 Super G
silver Schladming 2013 Super combination
FIS Alpine Ski Junior World Championships
bronze Schladming 1997 combination
Placements in the Alpine Ski World Cup
 Individual World Cup debut October 25, 1998
 Individual world cup victories 26th
 Overall World Cup 1. ( 2010/11 )
 Downhill World Cup 23rd ( 2009/10 )
 Super G World Cup 3rd (2010/11)
 Giant Slalom World Cup 8. ( 2008/09 )
 Slalom World Cup 1. ( 2001/02 , 2010/11)
 Combination World Cup 1. (2010/11, 2011/12 ,
2012/13 )
 Podium placements 1. 2. 3.
 Super G 1 1 0
 Giant slalom 0 1 0
 slalom 14th 9 16
 combination 9 4th 2
 Parallel races 1 0 1
 Knockout race 1 0 0
 

Ivica Kostelić [ ˈiʋitsa ˈkɔstɛlitɕ ] (born November 23, 1979 in Zagreb ) is a former Croatian ski racer . Initially he was particularly successful in slalom , but over the years he developed into an all-rounder who competes in all five disciplines. His greatest successes are winning the overall ranking in the 2010/11 season and the slalom world championship title in 2003 . There are also four silver medals at the Olympic Winter Games , one further silver and one bronze medal each at world championships, and five victories in world cup discipline rankings. He is the older brother of the former ski racer Janica Kostelić . Today he works as a ski trainer.

biography

Ascent

The Kostelić siblings grew up in simple circumstances. Father Ante Kostelić , a former handball player and coach, intensively promoted the sports careers of his children Ivica and Janica. Lack of money and the fact that Croatia is not a typical winter sports country led to the use of unorthodox training methods. Often the family stayed in tents or cars even in winter and climbed the slopes on foot, as they could not afford hotel accommodation and ski lift tickets. The aim was to consistently get to the top of the world. The training program followed scientific approaches developed by the Soviet weightlifter and sports scientist Alexei Medvedev .

From December 1994 Kostelić competed in FIS races , the first appearances in the European Cup followed in December 1995. A year later he achieved his first victory in a well-filled junior race in Sexten . At the Junior World Championships in 1997 in Schladming , he won the bronze medal in the combined ranking, which was made up of the results of downhill, giant slalom and slalom. Kostelić steadily improved in FIS races and the Croatian Olympic Committee nominated him for the 1998 Winter Olympics . But a few days before leaving, he suffered a fractured kneecap , so that he had to end the season early.

Kostelić made his debut in the World Cup on October 25, 1998 on the Rettenbachferner near Sölden , but could not qualify for the second run. He then competed in Nor-Am races in North America, winning a downhill run in Lake Louise . During training for the departure of the 1999 World Cup in Beaver Creek , he tore a cruciate ligament on his left knee. He also had to end the following season early, this time because of a torn cruciate ligament on his right knee. On December 11th, 2000 he got the first World Cup points with the 21st place in the slalom of Sestriere , but a new knee injury two weeks later caused the season to end prematurely.

breakthrough

Totally surprising, Kostelić won the World Cup slalom in Aspen on November 25, 2001 , with the high start number 64. It was the second highest winner number in the World Cup, after the number 66 of the Liechtensteiner Markus Foser and the Slovenian Katja Koren (both in 1993). At the same time, the 64 is still the highest starting number that has ever won a World Cup slalom. This was followed by victories in Wengen and Flachau and three more podium places. This was enough to win the World Cup discipline in slalom. At the 2002 Winter Olympics Kostelić finished ninth in the giant slalom and had to accept a failure in the slalom (after fourth-best time in the first round). He was named Croatian Sportsman of the Year 2002, Sister Janica was named Sportswoman of the Year and Father Ante was named Trainer of the Year.

In the 2002/03 season Kostelić continued to drive at a consistently high level. He won the slaloms in Sestriere , Kranjska Gora and Bormio ; there was also a third place in Wengen. In the slalom discipline he had to admit defeat to the four-time season winner Kalle Palander from Finland. At the 2003 World Championships , he won the gold medal in slalom on February 16, the day after his sister became world champion in the same discipline. In January 2003 the Croatian magazine Nacional reported on various statements by Kostelić that glorified National Socialism and the Third Reich and that he had made public in various interviews. The article made international headlines and put Kostelić under heavy pressure. He finally distanced himself from the statements, but accused the Nacional of having taken his statements out of context.

ups and downs

Kostelić denied more descents and Super-G races in the 2003/04 season in order to develop into an all-rounder. In the slalom, however, he still had by far the best results, with a win in Madonna di Campiglio and a third place in Wengen. During the second run of the night slalom in Schladming on January 27, 2004, in which he was second after the first run, he tore another cruciate ligament in his right knee; again he was out for the rest of the season. In the winter of 2004/05 , he initially struggled to reconnect. Again he concentrated on the technical disciplines. Since he was either eliminated in the first seven races or missed the second round, he initially didn't get any World Cup points. In the end, however, he achieved two podium places in the Wengen and Kitzbühel slaloms .

The 2005/06 season was mixed . In the World Cup, fourth place in the slalom of Åre resulted as the best result, but Kostelić also had several failures. He showed his best performance of the season at the 2006 Winter Olympics , where he won the silver medal in combination behind the American Ted Ligety . This result came as a surprise because he had never been better than ninth in this discipline. In December 2006 Kostelić succeeded in winning the World Cup again after almost three years when he won the super combination on the Reiteralm . The further course of winter 2006/07 was characterized by rather average results and failures.

Development into an all-rounder and overall World Cup winner

Kostelić, previously a specialist in slalom races, diversified his training and competed in all disciplines for the first time in the 2007/08 season . Although he did not manage to win, he was second four times and third twice. In the discipline classifications slalom and combination he took second place, in the overall classification he was sixth. The 2008/09 season was similarly successful with a slalom win in Alta Badia and five other podium places, including the first in a giant slalom. Before the 2009 World Cup , Kostelić led the overall World Cup ranking and was one of the closest favorites. However, he was unable to contest World Championship races in Val-d'Isère due to sudden acute back pain. After a two-week break, he returned to the World Cup. In the overall standings he slipped to fourth place, which was still his best annual performance so far.

In the 2009/10 season Kostelić won both the Wengen slalom and the renowned Hahnenkamm combination in Kitzbühel. He also achieved three more podium places, including for the first time in the Super-G discipline. At the season highlight, the 2010 Winter Olympics , he won two more silver medals, in the super combination and in the slalom. At the end of the season he finished fifth in the overall World Cup ranking.

The 2010/11 season was the most successful so far for Kostelić. In January 2011 he achieved an incomparable winning streak. In 14 races he was at the top of the podium seven times and scored 999 World Cup points within a calendar month: He won the first city ​​event in Munich , the slaloms of Adelboden and Wengen, the combinations of Wengen, Kitzbühel and Chamonix and also the Super- G from Kitzbühel (his first victory in a speed race). With the victory in Chamonix, Kostelić secured the combined World Cup ranking early. In the overall standings, he extended his lead to over 450 points.

In the first race of the 2011 World Championship , the Super-G on February 9, Kostelić won the bronze medal. On the same day he announced that he would not compete in the downhill and super combined (in which he was one of the most popular favorites) because he wanted to conserve his strength. In addition, he expressed sharp criticism of the heavily iced Kandahar route . After the departure from Kvitfjell on March 12, 2011, Kostelić was already five races before the end of the season as the winner of the overall World Cup for the 2010/11 season, as his points lead could no longer be caught. Although he did not score any points in the slalom in Lenzerheide, the last individual race of the season, he won the slalom World Cup for the second time, as his closest rival Jean-Baptiste Grange was eliminated. In the same year he was awarded the Skieur d'Or by the International Association of Ski Journalists (AIJS) .

Further development

In the 2011/12 season Kostelić was able to build on the successes of the previous season in the World Cup. He won two slaloms in December, the super combination and the slalom in Wengen in January. With the victory in the classic Hahnenkamm combination (for the third time in a row, for which he was honored with the Hahnenkamm needle in gold with diamonds) he took the lead in the overall World Cup. In Krasnaya Polyana on February 12th, he again won the super combined and thus secured victory in the World Cup combined ranking. In this race, however, he injured his right knee. He had to undergo an operation to remove a torn part of the meniscus . Kostelić then had to pause for four weeks, which meant he had no chance of overall victory. However, he still had the opportunity to win the slalom classification. At the World Cup final in Schladming, however, he remained without points and André Myhrer was able to overtake him.

The knee injury hampered Kostelić at the beginning of the 2012/13 season. It was only in January that it was able to almost reach the level of previous years. This month he achieved three podium places, including a win in the combination of Kitzbühel. In the combined discipline classification, he finished first, tied with Alexis Pinturault . At the 2013 World Championships in Schladming , he won the silver medal in the super combined. Towards the end of the season he won the World Cup slalom in Kranjska Gora. During the 2013/14 season, Kostelić did not find the shape of years gone by and was only classified in the top ten twice. Under these circumstances, surprisingly, he won the silver medal in the super combined at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi .

In the 2014/15 season Kostelić achieved points in just six World Cup races, including a podium in the Alpine Combined in Wengen . In the 2015/16 season he finished in the points in the alpine combinations of Wengen and Chamonix, in the latter he was among the top ten. Due to his pain and numerous knee operations, he was asked several times about the end of his career. After the combined slalom on January 13, 2017 in Wengen, Kostelić announced his retirement from competitive sport. After retiring from the World Cup, he took part in the Alpine World Ski Championships in St. Moritz, where he had become world champion in slalom 14 years earlier.

successes

Ivica Kostelić during the departure of the 2010 Winter Olympics

Olympic games

  • Salt Lake City 2002 : 9th giant slalom
  • Turin 2006 : 2nd combination, 6th slalom, 31st Super-G
  • Vancouver 2010 : 2nd slalom, 2nd super combination, 7th giant slalom, 16th super-G, 18th downhill
  • Sochi 2014 : 2nd super combination, 9th slalom, 24th super-G, 27th giant slalom

World championships

World Cup ratings

season total Departure Super G Giant slalom slalom combination City Event *
space Points space Points space Points space Points space Points space Points space Points
2000/01 107. 25th - - - - - - 40. 25th - - - -
2001/02 7th 677 - - - - 56. 22nd 1. 611 - - - -
2002/03 7th 632 - - - - 27. 52 2. 580 - - - -
2003/04 34. 271 - - 37. 14th 30th 62 14th 195 - - - -
2004/05 31. 263 - - - - - - 7th 263 - - - -
2005/06 40. 204 - - - - - - 15th 163 16. 41 - -
2006/07 25th 344 - - - - - - 16. 144 3. 200 - -
2007/08 6th 829 35. 36 25th 83 40. 29 5. 425 2. 256 - -
2008/09 4th 891 47. 9 26th 43 8th. 219 2. 454 4th 166 - -
2009/10 5. 805 23. 86 15th 116 21st 71 4th 360 3. 172 - -
2010/11 1. 1356 25th 90 3. 223 11. 120 1. 478 1. 345 1. 100
2011/12 4th 1064 43. 14th - - 23. 104 2. 610 1. 336 - -
2012/13 5. 900 44. 18th 28. 27 14th 140 3. 535 1. 180 4th 100
2013/14 42. 190 - - 34. 24 32. 29 16. 128 30th 9 - -
2014/15 50. 155 59. 1 - - - - 31. 44 4th 110 - -
2015/16 105. 36 - - - - - - - - 20th 36 - -
2016/17 139. 9 - - - - - - - - 35. 9 - -

* In the 2012/13 season, the results of the city events counted towards the slalom discipline.

World Cup victories

  • 26 World Cup victories (15 slaloms, 5 super combinations, 4 combinations, 1 super G, 1 parallel race)
  • 60 podium places (40 × slalom, 9 × super combination, 6 × combination, 2 × super G, 1 × giant slalom, 2 × parallel races)
slalom
# date place country
1. November 25, 2001 Aspen United States
2. January 13, 2002 Wengen Switzerland
3. March 9, 2002 Flachau Austria
4th December 16, 2002 Sestriere * Italy
5. January 5, 2003 Kranjska Gora Slovenia
6th January 12, 2003 Bormio Italy
7th December 15, 2003 Madonna di Campiglio Italy
8th. December 22, 2008 Alta Badia Italy
9. January 17, 2010 Wengen Switzerland
10. January 9, 2011 Adelboden Switzerland
11. January 16, 2011 Wengen Switzerland
12. December 8, 2011 Beaver Creek United States
13. December 21, 2011 Flachau Austria
14th January 15, 2012 Wengen Switzerland
15th March 10, 2013 Kranjska Gora Slovenia

* KO slalom

Parallel slalom
# date place country
1. January 2, 2011 Munich Germany
Super combination
# date place country
1. December 10, 2006 Reiteralm Austria
2. January 14, 2011 Wengen Switzerland
3. January 30, 2011 Chamonix France
4th January 13, 2012 Wengen Switzerland
5. February 12, 2012 Krasnaya Polyana Russia
combination
# date place country
1. January 24, 2010 Kitzbühel Austria
2. January 23, 2011 Kitzbühel Austria
3. January 22, 2012 Kitzbühel Austria
4th January 27, 2013 Kitzbühel Austria
Super G
# date place country
1. January 21, 2011 Kitzbühel Austria

Junior World Championships

  • Schladming 1997 : 3rd combination, 10th slalom, 14th descent, 16th super-G, 22nd slalom

More Achievements

Awards

  • 2002: Croatia's Sportsman of the Year
  • 2011: Skieur d'Or

Web links

Commons : Ivica Kostelić  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. a b c International Sports Archive 24/2003 ( Munzinger Archive ), June 2, 2003
  2. The west-eastern diva. Der Spiegel , December 3, 2001, accessed January 25, 2011 .
  3. ^ Name for himself / Late starting slot no problem for sibling of Janica Kostelic. The Gazette, November 26, 2001, accessed January 25, 2011 .
  4. a b c Portrait - Ivica Kostelic. (No longer available online.) Skiinfo.de, January 23, 2011, archived from the original on October 24, 2010 ; Retrieved January 25, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / magazin.skiinfo.de
  5. Ivica Kostelić: Nazism was a healthy system. (No longer available online.) Nacional , January 15, 2003, archived from the original on July 25, 2012 ; accessed on February 2, 2008 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nacional.hr
  6. Ski star Kostelic apologizes for Nazi statements. Neue Zürcher Zeitung , January 16, 2003, accessed on March 8, 2019 .
  7. Ivica Kostelic leaves Val d'Isere injured. Focus , February 7, 2009, accessed January 26, 2011 .
  8. Ivica Kostelic - The man of the hour in the World Cup. Kleine Zeitung , January 31, 2011, accessed May 3, 2020 .
  9. Kostelic: Departure place combi gold. Courier , February 9, 2011, archived from the original on February 10, 2011 ; Retrieved February 9, 2011 .
  10. Ski season in danger: knee surgery at Ivica Kostelic. Die Presse, February 13, 2012, accessed March 18, 2012 .
  11. Ivica Kostelic: "The pain kills the fun". Kleine Zeitung, January 13, 2016, accessed February 20, 2016 .
  12. "You can't see the other victims." Neue Zürcher Zeitung, January 15, 2016, accessed on February 20, 2016 .
  13. Ivica Kostelic fought against amputation. SportNet, November 19, 2015, accessed February 20, 2016 .
  14. Kostelic: Tears for Farewell Sport1, January 13, 2017, accessed on January 13, 2017.