His greatest successes are second place at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo (behind Bernhard Russi ) and winning the Downhill World Cup in 1973 and 1974. He also came third in the overall ranking in 1973. He won a total of eight world cup races; there are also three second places. Due to the successes in the previous season descents, he was considered a big favorite for the 1974 World Championship in St. Moritz , where he fell in the same place as Werner Grissmann (Collombins first retirement this winter). However, after the slide he was 0.45 seconds behind winner David Zwilling .
On December 8, 1974, he fell in the first downhill race of the season in Val-d'Isère , contracted a sprained spine and had to take a year off. On December 6, 1975, he fell in the second training run at exactly the same point. He injured himself so badly (fracture of two vertebrae) that he was paralyzed for two days and then had to end his sports career. This jump on the Oreiller-Killy slope has been called Bosse à Collombin ever since . Today Collombin works in Versegères as a winemaker , wine merchant and hotelier.
Switzerland
