Vanessa-Mae also called Vanessa-Mae Vanakorn Nicholson, is a Singaporean-born British violinist with album sales reaching several million, having made her the wealthiest entertainer under 30 in the United Kingdom in 2006. She competed under the name Vanessa Vanakorn for Thailand in alpine skiing at the 2014 Winter Olympics. She was initially banned from skiing by the International Ski Federation (FIS) after participating in a qualifying race allegedly organised to enable her to qualify for the Winter Olympics. An appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport led to the ban being nullified, citing lack of evidence for her own wrongdoing or any manipulation. The FIS later issued an apology to her.
Tina Maze is a retired Slovenian World Cup alpine ski racer.
Lasse Kjus is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Norway. He won the overall World Cup title twice, an Olympic gold medal, and several World Championships. His combined career total of 16 Olympic and World Championship medals ranks second all-time behind fellow Norwegian Kjetil André Aamodt.
Lindsey Caroline Vonn is an American former World Cup alpine ski racer on the US Ski Team. She won four World Cup overall championships — second only amongst female skiers to Annemarie Moser-Pröll — with three consecutive titles in 2008, 2009, and 2010, plus another in 2012. Vonn won the gold medal in downhill at the 2010 Winter Olympics, the first one for an American woman. She also won a record eight World Cup season titles in the downhill discipline, five titles in super-G, and three consecutive titles in the combined (2010–2012). In 2016, she won her 20th World Cup crystal globe title, the overall record for men or women, surpassing Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden, who won 19 globes from 1975 to 1984. She has the second highest super ranking of all skiers, men or women.
The Men's Super-G competition of the Torino 2006 Olympics was held at Sestriere, Italy, on Saturday, February 18.
The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1950 were the 11th FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, held February 13–18 in the United States at Aspen, Colorado.
Kjetil Jansrud is a Norwegian former World Cup alpine ski racer and Olympic champion. He competed in all alpine disciplines apart from slalom, and his best event was the giant slalom where he has six World Cup podiums and an Olympic silver medal. Since 2012, he had concentrated on the speed events, where all but two of his World Cup victories had come. At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, he won the super-G and placed third in the downhill. At the World Championships in 2019 at Åre, Jansrud won gold in the downhill.
Anna Veith is an Austrian former alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist. She was the overall World Cup champion for the 2014 and 2015 seasons.
Alena Igorevna Zavarzina is a Russian former snowboarder specializing in parallel slalom and parallel giant slalom disciplines. She is the 2011 World champion and bronze medalist from the 2014 Winter Olympics in parallel giant slalom. She won the parallel giant slalom crystal globe in 2016/17 World Cup season.
Mikaela Pauline Shiffrin is an American two-time Olympic Gold Medalist and World Cup alpine skier. She is a four-time Overall World Cup champion, a four-time world champion in slalom, and a six-time winner of the World Cup discipline title in that event. Shiffrin is the youngest slalom champion in Olympic alpine skiing history, at 18 years and 345 days.
The 48th World Cup season began on 26 October 2013, in Sölden, Austria, and concluded on 16 March 2014 at the World Cup finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. The defending overall champions from the 2013 season were Marcel Hirscher of Austria and Tina Maze of Slovenia. The overall titles were won by Hirscher and Anna Fenninger, also of Austria. The season was interrupted by the 2014 Winter Olympics that took place from 7 to 23 February in Sochi, Russia, with the alpine events at Rosa Khutor.
The women's downhill competition of the Sochi 2014 Olympics was held at the Rosa Khutor Alpine Resort near Krasnaya Polyana, Russia, on Wednesday, 12 February. The race was won by Tina Maze of Slovenia and Dominique Gisin of Switzerland, who posted the same time. Lara Gut, also of Switzerland, was a tenth of a second back and took the bronze medal.
The women's super-G competition of the Sochi 2014 Olympics was held at the Rosa Khutor Alpine Resort near Krasnaya Polyana, Russia, on Saturday, 15 February. Anna Fenninger from Austria won the race, getting her first Olympic medal. Maria Höfl-Riesch of Germany won the silver medal, and Nicole Hosp of Austria finished third. Of the 2010 medalists, only Tina Maze participated and finished fifth.
The United States Virgin Islands (USVI) sent a delegation to compete at the 2014 Winter Olympics held in Sochi, Russia from 7–23 February 2014. This marked the return of the Virgin Islands to the Winter Olympics after missing the 2010 edition, and was their sixth time competing at a Winter Olympic Games. The USVI team consisted of one athlete in alpine skiing, Jasmine Campbell. She finished 56th in the giant slalom and 43rd in the slalom.
Togo competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia from 7 to 23 February 2014. Togo's team consisted of two athletes in two sports, marking the country's debut at the Winter Olympics.
Thailand competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia from 7 to 23 February 2014. The Thai team consisted of two athletes, Vanessa Vanakorn and Kanes Sucharitakul, both competing in alpine skiing. This was Thailand's third appearance at a Winter Olympic Games, and their first since 2006, having missed the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Morocco competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The country's participation at Vancouver marked its sixth appearance at a Winter Olympics since its debut at the 1968 Games; no athlete has ever won any medals. The 2010 delegation consisted of two athletes competing in alpine skiing, Adam Lamhamedi and Kenza Tazi, who were accompanied by Adam's brother Sami and four officials. Adam Lamhamedi was also the nation's flag bearer in the Parade of Nations, and at the closing ceremony. Neither skier finished on a medal podium.
Alessia Afi Dipol is an Italian-born naturalized Togolese alpine skier who competed for Togo at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics in the slalom and giant slalom. Dipol also originally competed for India between 2011 and 2013, but she later switched to compete for Togo even though she has no familial connections to the country, so she could qualify to compete at the 2014 Winter Olympics. She also chose to represent the country because her father owns a clothing factory in Togo.
Aaron March is an Italian alpine snowboarder. He represented his nation Italy in two editions of the Olympic Games, and eventually claimed a silver medal in parallel giant slalom at the 2013 Winter Universiade in the Trentino and top ten finishes at the FIS World Cup series since his sporting debut in 2001.
Sylvain Dufour is a French alpine snowboarder. He claimed two silver medals each in giant slalom and slalom at the 2009 FIS Snowboarding World Championships in Gangwon, South Korea, and later represented his nation France in two editions of the Olympic Games. Dufour currently trains for Ski Club Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines under his personal coach and mentor Christophe Guinamard.
