Zali Steggall

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Zali Steggall Alpine skiing
nation AustraliaAustralia Australia
birthday 16th April 1974 (age 46)
place of birth Sydney , Australia
size 175 cm
job Lawyer
Career
discipline Slalom, giant slalom
society Mount Buller Ski Club
status resigned
End of career February 20, 2002
Medal table
Olympic medals 0 × gold 0 × silver 1 × bronze
World Cup medals 1 × gold 0 × silver 0 × bronze
Olympic rings winter Olympics
bronze 1998 Nagano slalom
FIS Alpine World Ski Championships
gold 1999 Vail / Beaver Creek slalom
Placements in the Alpine Ski World Cup
 Individual World Cup debut March 27, 1993
 Individual world cup victories 1
 Overall World Cup 32nd ( 1997/98 )
 Slalom World Cup 9. (1997/98)
 Podium placements 1. 2. 3.
 slalom 1 1 0
 

Zali Steggall (born April 16, 1974 in Sydney ) is a former Australian ski racer . She mainly skied slaloms and became world champion in this discipline in 1999, as the only female athlete from the southern hemisphere to date . There is also an Olympic bronze medal and a victory in the Ski World Cup .

biography

Plaque for Zali Steggall on the Pathway of Olympians in Manly

From the age of four to 14, Zali Steggall lived with her parents and her brother Zeke (later active as a professional snowboarder) in France . She learned to ski in the winter sports resort of Morzine in Haute-Savoie and regularly took part in races. As an Australian citizen, however, she was not accepted into the French support programs and youth cadres. After living in Manly near Sydney for three years , she moved back to Europe at the age of 17 to pursue her dream of a skiing career.

With good results in FIS races and in the European Cup, Steggall qualified for the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville ; in the giant slalom she finished 23rd. It had its premiere in the World Cup on March 27, 1993 in Åre . She also took part in the 1994 Winter Olympics, but was only able to improve marginally to 22nd place. The Australian government began to specifically promote winter sports in 1994, from which Steggall also increasingly benefited. On December 17, 1995, she finished in the top ten of a World Cup race for the first time in the St. Anton am Arlberg slalom and confirmed this performance five weeks later in Sestriere with fourth place.

After a rather mixed season in 1996/97, Steggall finally achieved her breakthrough to the top of the world on November 23, 1997 when she won the Park City slalom and thus became the first Australian winner of a World Cup race. She never succeeded in another World Cup victory, but she achieved numerous top 10 results. Another highlight in Steggall's career were the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano . In the slalom race, Steggall took third place and won the first medal in an individual discipline at the winter games for Australia (four years earlier the men's short track relay had won the first winter sports medal ever).

After finishing 2nd in the slalom on December 3, 1998 in Mammoth Mountain , Steggall celebrated the greatest success of her career at the 1999 World Cup in Vail that same season . After finishing 6th in the first run, she secured the slalom gold medal with a clear best time in the second run and became the first female world champion from the southern hemisphere. A mishap happened at the award ceremony: Instead of the Australian anthem, the one from Armenia was played . Since the surprised organizers did not have a tape with the correct anthem in stock, they repeated the award the following day. After these successes, Steggall only achieved mediocre results. Her last race was the slalom of the 2002 Winter Olympics , but she was eliminated in the first run. She then announced her retirement from active ski racing.

Steggall, who speaks French fluently, started a distance learning course in communication studies during her skiing career . She graduated in 2001 at the Griffith University and began then, jurisprudence to study. In January 2007 she received the Order of Australia for her athletic achievements and her involvement in various charitable organizations, and the following year she was admitted to the bar for the state of New South Wales . Steggall was married to the Australian rower David Cameron since September 1999 and had two children with him. However, the marriage ended in divorce after seven years. In June 2008 she announced that she would marry Tim Irving, also divorced marketing manager.

Steggall is now also politically active. At the beginning of 2019 she announced that she would run as an independent candidate in the upcoming elections in Australia and, in particular, would campaign for climate protection . She said: "The most pressing problem is the lack of action on climate change".

successes

Olympic games

World championships

Junior World Championships

  • Maribor 1992 : 18th combination, 25th slalom, 28th giant slalom, 31st downhill, 32nd Super-G
  • Monte Campione 1993 : 18th combination, 21st giant slalom, 28th slalom, 46th Super-G

World cup

  • 1997/98 : 9th slalom ranking
  • 2 podium places, including 1 victory:
date place country discipline
November 23, 1997 Park City United States slalom

European Cup

  • Season 1993/94 : 6. Slalom Score
  • Season 1996/97 : 3. Slalom Score
  • 3 podium places, including 1 victory

More Achievements

  • 7 Australian championship titles (giant slalom 1994 and 1995; slalom 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998 and 1999)
  • 18 victories in FIS races (only the results from 1994 are taken into account)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Athlete Profile ( Memento June 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), Sports Illustrated
  2. ^ The Sports Factor ( Memento January 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), Radio National transcripts
  3. ↑ a b CV of Zali Steggall ( Memento from November 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ^ Biographical entry , National Foundation for Australian Women
  5. ^ Zali Steggall announces her engagement , news.com.au
  6. Jump up ↑ Olympic skier Zali Steggall to challenge Tony Abbott in Warringah at election. Financial Review, January 27, 2019, accessed February 10, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Steggall, Zali
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian ski racer
DATE OF BIRTH April 16, 1974
PLACE OF BIRTH Sydney