Schleper grew up in Vail , where her father ran a ski shop. She skied for the first time at the age of two. In 1994 she won the Whistler Cup slalom . In August of the same year she drove her first FIS races and three months later the first appearances in the Nor-Am Cup (the North American counterpart to the European Cup ) followed. As a 16-year-old she took part in a World Cup race for the first time in November 1995 .
The first highlight of her career was second place in slalom at the 1997 Junior World Championship in Schladming . After she first managed to get into the World Cup points on January 28, 1998 in Åre, Sweden , she established herself permanently in the group of the best female skiers in 2000. Schleper was able to place in the top ten in 37 World Cup slaloms and giant slaloms. She achieved the only World Cup victory of her career in March 2005 at the World Cup final in Lenzerheide, Switzerland . Schleper was less successful at major events: The best world championship placement was a seventh place in 2005 in Santa Caterina , in 2006 she was tenth in the Olympic slalom race in Sestriere .
Because of a knee injury, she had to cancel the 2006/07 season. The break from competition was extended by pregnancy. After the birth of her son in January 2008, she decided to make a comeback. In the 2008/09 season , 13th place in the giant slalom in Aspen was her best World Cup result, at the 2009 World Championships in Val-d'Isère she finished 28th in slalom and 31st in giant slalom. On December 12th, 2009 Schleper finished eighth in the giant slalom in Val-d'Isère for the first time in almost four years back into the top 10 of a World Cup race. Two weeks later, she achieved her best result of the 2009/10 season with fifth place in the Lienz slalom . At the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver , she was 14th in giant slalom and 16th in slalom. In the 2010/11 season , she finished eighth in the slalom in Zagreb, once among the top ten. At the 2011 World Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen , she finished 21st in giant slalom, in slalom she was eliminated.
On December 29, 2011 Schleper celebrated her departure from professional racing at the World Cup slalom in Lienz . She started in a mini dress, stopped in the meantime and drove from there to the finish with her three-year-old son in her arms.
Sarah Schleper has been married to the Mexican Federico Gaxiola since 2007. Starting in autumn 2013, with a view to the Winter Games in Sochi , she tried to obtain Mexican citizenship, but did not receive the Mexican passport until May 2014. Schleper's goal was then to participate in the giant slalom at the 2015 World Cup in her home town of Vail. She succeeded in doing this, but dropped out. In October 2014, she started as a Mexican in a World Cup race for the first time. At the World Cup in 2017 , they also went to Mexico. In the Super-G she finished with start no. 39. 37th place. It was strange that her racing suit and helmet were lost on the way to the place and she had to borrow equipment, wearing a suit from the Swiss team.
United States Mexico
