Phil Mahre

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Phil Mahre Alpine skiing
nation United StatesUnited States United States
birthday 10th May 1957 (age 63)
place of birth Yakima , United States
job Entrepreneur
Career
discipline Downhill , giant slalom ,
slalom , combination
status resigned
End of career 1984
Medal table
Olympic games 1 × gold 1 × silver 0 × bronze
World championships 1 × gold 1 × silver 0 × bronze
Olympic rings winter Olympics
silver Lake Placid 1980 slalom
gold Sarajevo 1984 slalom
FIS Alpine World Ski Championships
gold Lake Placid 1980 combination
silver Lake Placid 1980 slalom
Placements in the Alpine Ski World Cup
 Individual World Cup debut 5th December 1975
 Individual world cup victories 27
 Overall World Cup 1. ( 1980/81 , 1981/82 , 1982/83 )
 Downhill World Cup 18th (1982/83)
 Giant Slalom World Cup 1. (1981/82, 1982/83)
 Slalom World Cup 1. (1981/82)
 Combination World Cup 1. ( 1979/80 , 1980/81, 1981/82,
1982/83)
 Podium placements 1. 2. 3.
 Giant slalom 7th 13 6th
 slalom 9 7th 11
 combination 11 1 4th
 

Philip "Phil" Mahre (born May 10, 1957 in Yakima , Washington ) is a former American ski racer . The slalom and giant slalom specialist was one of the most successful racers ever in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In his three prime years 1980/81 to 1982/83 he was an equal opponent of the Swedish ski legend Ingemar Stenmark - he won nine slalom and seven giant slalom victories. In contrast to Stenmark, he was also a good downhill skier, which brought him eleven wins in the combination and three times the overall ranking of the Ski World Cup . He was also once Olympic and world champion . His twin brother Steve Mahre was also successful as a ski racer.

biography

Sports career

Although Phil and Steve Mahre look very similar, they are not identical twins . They grew up with seven other siblings in the middle of the White Pass ski area west of Yakima County , where father Dave Mahre was primarily responsible for the slope preparation from 1964 . During the winter, the Mahre twins were able to train on an illuminated slope next to their house every evening after school. Phil Mahre won his first children's ski race at the age of nine.

When they were twelve years old, the twins were considered so talented that various ski manufacturers provided them with skis for free. 1970 Rossignol tried to bind the brothers with a contract for their entire career, but the father refused. Ultimately, they decided on the company K2 from Vashon Island , which is only a few hours away from Yakima. The Mahres have remained loyal to this ski brand throughout their careers and have been involved in the development of bespoke racing skis.

Phil Mahre was accepted into the US national ski team at the age of 15. He took part in his first World Cup race on December 5, 1975 , finishing the slalom in Val-d'Isère in sixth place. In 1976 he took part in the Olympic Games in Innsbruck and finished fifth in the giant slalom. In December 1976 he won a World Cup giant slalom for the first time in Val-d'Isère, the first slalom victory followed three months later in Sun Valley . In addition, in the 1976/77 season he won the giant slalom classification of the Canadian-American Cup, which was renamed the Nor-Am Cup the next year .

In the 1977/78 season, Phil Mahre established himself as one of the best ski racers in the world. At the 1978 World Ski Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen , he was again fifth in the giant slalom. With two wins and several podiums, he finished second in the overall World Cup behind Ingemar Stenmark. In 1979 he won the first combined classification , was third in the overall World Cup and second in the Slalom World Cup. At the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid , he won the silver medal, behind his great rival Ingemar Stenmark. The combined ranking determined as part of the Olympic races, which only counted as a world championship, earned him the gold medal. Mahre finished the season again in third place in the overall standings and won the combined World Cup.

In the 1980/81 season, Mahre won three races and three combined rankings and left Stenmark behind by just six points; In addition to the overall World Cup victory, there was also the combination World Cup. In 1981/82 Mahre increased his lead to 98 points, with eight wins and 20 podium places. In the same season he was also the best in the slalom, giant slalom and combined world cup. In contrast to his brother Steve, he missed out on the 1982 World Ski Championships in Schladming . With five race victories in 1983 Phil Mahre secured the overall World Cup for the third time in a row, the Giant Slalom World Cup for the second time and the Combination World Cup for the fourth time. In the same year he was awarded the Skieur d'Or by the International Association of Ski Journalists (AIJS) . The 1982/83 season was the only one in which the overall winners of both sexes came from the USA until the 2007/08 season ( Tamara McKinney was successful in the women ). There were Bode Miller and Lindsey Vonn this success also celebrate.

The 1983/84 season started with rather mixed results, as the twins concentrated entirely on the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo . Phil Mahre finished eighth in the giant slalom. After the first round of the slalom, Steve was ahead of the Swede Jonas Nilsson , while Phil was third. In the second run, Phil took the lead, while Nilsson fell back to fourth place after a driving error. Steve would have taken a decent run to win, but he also made several driving mistakes. Phil Mahre won the race with 21 hundredths of a second ahead of his brother and received the gold medal he wanted. An hour before the start of the race, Phil Mahres wife Holly had given birth to a son, he only found out later during a television interview. At the end of the season, the Mahre brothers retired from top-class sport.

After the resignation

In 1985 Phil and Steve Mahre published their autobiography No Hill Too Fast , which describes their childhood and World Cup careers. The book also contains a number of instructional chapters that teach "how to drive like a mahr". In the same year, the brothers founded a training center in the Deer Valley ski area near Park City in the US state of Utah. For a few years both were active in automobile racing.

Comeback in 2007

In January 2007, at the age of 49, Phil Mahre announced that he would be racing again. With a newly issued racing license, he was able to place himself in the top 10 several times and even in the podium at FIS races in the USA. He did not achieve his goal of participating in the 2008 US Championships. He contested his last FIS race in January 2009.

successes

Olympic games

World championships

World Cup ratings

Phil Mahre has won the overall World Cup three times (1981, 1982, 1983), plus seven other victories in discipline rankings.

season total Departure Giant slalom slalom combination
space Points space Points space Points space Points space Points
1975/76 14th 57 - - 10. 29 7th 26th - -
1976/77 9. 100 - - 4th 72 12. 25th - -
1977/78 2. 116 - - 3. 84 3. 86 - -
1978/79 3. 155 - - 18th 27 2. 107 - -
1979/80 3. 132 - - 9. 43 12. 39 1. 67
1980/81 1. 266 32. 10 3. 84 2. 97 1. 102
1981/82 1. 309 26th 9 1. 105 1. 120 1. 75
1982/83 1. 285 18th 28 1. 107 6th 75 1. 75
1983/84 15th 85 39. 2 19th 24 9. 44 11. 15th

World Cup victories

Phil Mahre has won a total of 27 World Cup races (9 slaloms, 7 giant slaloms, 11 combinations). There are also 21 second places and 21 third places.

Giant slalom

date place country
December 10, 1976 Val d'Isère France
March 3, 1978 Stratton Mountain United States
March 7, 1981 Aspen United States
March 19, 1982 Kranjska Gora Yugoslavia
March 7, 1983 Aspen United States
March 8, 1983 Vail United States
March 19, 1983 Furano Japan

slalom

date place country
March 5th 1977 Sun Valley United States
February 12, 1978 Chamonix France
5th February 1979 Jasná Czechoslovakia
February 15, 1981 Are Sweden
March 15, 1981 Furano Japan
December 9, 1981 Madonna di Campiglio Italy
January 24, 1982 Wengen Switzerland
March 14, 1982 Jasná Czechoslovakia
March 26, 1982 Montgenèvre France

combination

date place country
15th January 1979 Crans-Montana Switzerland
December 8, 1979 Val d'Isère France
January 10, 1981 Morzine France
17th January 1981 Oberstaufen Germany
1st February 1981 St. Anton am Arlberg Austria
December 8, 1981 Aprica Italy
December 13, 1981 Madonna di Campiglio Italy
January 15, 1982 Bad Wiessee Germany
January 23, 1983 Kitzbühel Austria
February 6, 1983 St. Anton am Arlberg Austria
February 11, 1983 Le Markstein France

Other victories

  • Victory in the parallel slalom, which is only part of the Nations Cup, on March 28, 1982 in Montgenèvre

Awards

Motorsport statistics

Sebring results

year team vehicle Teammate Teammate placement Failure reason
1992 United StatesUnited States Brix Racing Mazda MX-6 United StatesUnited States Bob Schader United StatesUnited States Steve Mahre failure Engine failure

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A New Hill to Descend: Mahre Returns With Big Goal New York Times article, Jan. 15, 2007
  2. ↑ Sölkner, Strolz, Enn saved the Nations Cup! In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna March 29, 1982, p. 8 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
  3. ↑ Column 5, middle: "Award for Ph. Mahre" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna November 29, 1983, p. 11 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
personal data
SURNAME Mahre, Phil
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mahre, Philip (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American ski racer
DATE OF BIRTH May 10, 1957
PLACE OF BIRTH Yakima (Washington)