Josef "Pepi" Strobl (born March 3, 1974 in Ehenbichl ) is a former Austrian ski racer who started for Slovenia at the end of his career . The giant slalom junior world champion from 1993 competed in the ski world cup until 2006 and won seven world cup races.
Strobl celebrated his first major successes at the Junior World Championship in Maribor in 1992 , where he finished second in the downhill and super-G. A year later, in Monte Campione in 1993 , he won the giant slalom, took second place in the downhill and came third in the Super-G and combined. After this performance he was able to start in the World Cup for the first time at the season finale in Åre and finished 17th in the giant slalom.
Strobl caused a sensation in his second World Cup race, the first in the downhill, when he clinched his first victory on December 16, 1994 in Val-d'Isère with starting number 61. The following day he finished third in the second downhill. In January 1995 he came in sixth twice on the Wengen slopes . The second World Cup season 1995/96 was a little less successful, he was able to place four times in the top ten. The 1996/97 season was very successful for Strobl: In November he celebrated his second World Cup victory in the giant slalom in Park City , another followed in March at the Super-G in Kvitfjell . He finished in the top ten in 19 races and came third in the overall standings, second in the Super-G and fifth in the downhill standings. At the World Championships in Sestriere , he finished fifth in the Super-G, in the downhill he dropped out.
The 1997/98 season began with a victory in the parallel race of Tignes . Within the strong Austrian team, however, he could not qualify for the Winter Olympics. At the end of the season he was able to win another downhill in Crans-Montana and finished seventh in the overall World Cup. 1998/99 did not go as planned for Strobl. He did not achieve top results for a long time and also missed the World Championship in Vail. A third place in the Super-G at the end of the season was his best result. In the next season , however, he was able to build on earlier successes: He won two races, made it into the top ten 15 times and again took third place in the overall standings. There is also a third place in the downhill classification and a fourth in the Super G classification. In the 2000/01 season he finished eighth overall and was third in the Super-G ranking. At the World Championships in St. Anton he finished seventh in the Super-G.
In January 2002 Strobl fell during downhill training on the Streif in Kitzbühel and sustained serious injuries in his left knee. The season was over for him and a possible participation in the Olympics was no longer possible. In the following season Strobl drove twice on the podium, but could no longer perform his earlier performances. Because he increasingly had problems qualifying for races in the strong Austrian ski team, he was looking for a new country to start for. After discarding the move to the German ski team, Strobl started for Slovenia in the 2004/05 season . After another serious injury, he had to take a break for the entire season. In winter 2005/06 he drove a few more World Cup races, but never got into the points. In 2006 he finally ended his career.
Austria Slovenia
