 Podborski in 2011 | |||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
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| Birth name | Stephen Gregory Podborski | ||||||||||||||
| Born | July 25, 1957 Toronto, Ontario, Canada | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Country | Canada | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | Alpine skiing | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Stephen Gregory Podborski OC (born July 25, 1957) [1] is a Canadian former World Cup and Olympic downhill ski racer.
Born in Toronto, Ontario, Podborski started skiing at the age of two and a half at Craigleith Ski Club in Craigleith, Ontario. He joined the Canadian alpine ski team in 1973 and made his World Cup debut in 1974 at age 17, scoring two top ten finishes in his first World Cup season. He was due to make his Olympic debut at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, however he ruptured two knee ligaments in an accident just before the Games. [2] He was a member of the Crazy Canucks, and won the bronze medal in the downhill at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid.
In 1982, Podborski became the first North American to win the World Cup season title in downhill ski racing. In total, he won eight World Cup downhill races, including the notorious Hahnenkamm in Kitzbühel, Austria, which he won twice (1981–82). In 34 more races, he finished in the top 10. He retired following the 1984 season at age 26. Podborski was on the podium in World Cup races 20 times in approximately 100 races with 8 victories.
Erik Guay is the only other male Canadian ski racer to win a World Cup season title (Super-G, 2011) (Nancy Greene won two overall World Cup crystal globes as well as two discipline titles in giant slalom) with 5 World Cup career wins, 1 in Downhill. Ken Read came close to winning the World Cup Downhill title (downhill, 1980) finishing second.
Podborski's racing career and successes led to many accolades, including being honoured with the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002 and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.
| Year | Age | Slalom | Giant Slalom | Super-G | Downhill | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | 20 | DNF2 | 33 | not run | 7 | — |
| 1980 | 22 | — | — | 3 | — | |
| 1982 | 24 | — | — | 9 | — |
From 1948 through 1980, the Winter Olympics were also the World Championships for alpine skiing.
| Year | Age | Slalom | Giant Slalom | Super-G | Downhill | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 22 | — | — | not run | 3 | not run |
| 1984 | 26 | — | — | 8 |
In 1982, Podborski was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Podborski was inducted to the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 1985, Canadian Ski Hall of Fame in 1986 and Canadian Sport Hall of Fame in 1987.
In 2006, Podborski was inducted into the Ontario Sport Hall of Fame and his former team the Crazy Canucks were honoured on Canada's Walk of Fame.
Podborski participated in Prince Edward's charity television special The Grand Knockout Tournament in 1987.
He was on the bid committee for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, responsible for international relations; he also worked as a sports newscaster in Salt Lake City. He worked as a commentator for American television for three Winter Olympics (2002–2010). He covered freestyle skiing for NBC in 2006 and 2002, and snowboarding for Olympics on CBS in 1998. Podborski also covered the Olympic Games in Athens for NBC doing play by Play with Paul Sherwen for Cycling as well as play by play for Tae Kwon Do.
Podborski's endeavours also include senior leadership roles in the corporate and non-profit sectors. In 2003, Podborski joined the Telus telecommunications firm, leading to a position of National Director, Community Sports and remained with the organisation until June 2017.
Podborski was named the Chef de Mission for the Canadian Olympic Team for the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014.
In June 2017, Podborski became President and CEO of Parachute, a Canadian charitable organisation which focuses on injury prevention. Podborski describes his move into the injury prevention field as a natural extension of his athletic training: "I was the guy who wanted to win, and you can’t win when you fall and get hurt. I was an early, dedicated fan of preventing injury." [3] Podborski retired as CEO in May 2019 but continues to serve on Parachute's Board of Directors.
Hermann Maier is an Austrian former World Cup champion alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist. Nicknamed the "Herminator", Maier ranks among the greatest alpine ski racers in history, with four overall World Cup titles, two Olympic gold medals, and three World Championship titles. His 54 World Cup race victories – 24 super-G, 15 downhills, 14 giant slaloms, and 1 combined – rank third on the men's all-time list behind Ingemar Stenmark's 86 victories and Marcel Hirscher's 67 victories. Until 2023 he held the record for the most points in one season by a male alpine skier, with 2000 points from the 2000 season. From 2000–2013 he also held the title of most points in one season by any alpine skier, until Tina Maze scored 2414 points in the 2013 season.
Janica Kostelić is a Croatian former alpine ski racer. She is a four-time Olympic gold medalist. In addition to the Olympics, she won five gold medals at the World Championships. In World Cup competition, she won thirty individual races, three overall titles, three slalom titles, and four combined titles. Kostelic's accomplishments in professional skiing have led some commentators, writers, and fellow ski racers to regard her as the greatest female ski racer of all time.
Anne Heggtveit, is a former alpine ski racer from Canada. She was an Olympic gold medallist and double world champion in 1960.
The Crazy Canucks was the nickname for a group of World Cup alpine ski racers from Canada who rose to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s. Jungle Jim Hunter, Dave Irwin, Dave Murray, Steve Podborski, and Ken Read earned themselves a reputation for fast and seemingly reckless skiing in the downhill event.
Kenneth John Read is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Canada. He was a specialist in the downhill and a two-time Olympian. He won five World Cup races during his ten-year international career, all in downhill.
Wallace Jerold "Buddy" Werner was an American alpine ski racer in the 1950s and early 1960s.
Lindsey Caroline Vonn is an American World Cup alpine ski racer. She won four World Cup overall championships – third amongst female skiers to Annemarie Moser-Pröll and Mikaela Shiffrin – 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 third highest super ranking of all skiers, men or women.
Thomas Sven Moe is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from the United States. An Olympic gold and silver medalist in 1994, he specialized in the speed events of downhill and super G.
William Winston Kidd is a former World Cup alpine ski racer, a member of the U.S. Ski Team from 1962 to 1970.
Erik Guay is a Canadian former World Cup alpine ski racer. Racing out of Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, Guay won the World Cup season title in super-G in 2010 and was the world champion in downhill in 2011, as well as in the super-G in 2017. With 25 World Cup podiums, he is the career leader for Canada.
Peter Müller is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Switzerland.
Dave Irwin is a former alpine ski racer who represented Canada at two Winter Olympic Games and won a World Cup downhill. He was one of the "Crazy Canucks", a group of Canadian downhill racers who rose to prominence on the World Cup circuit in the late 1970s. He lives in Canmore, Alberta, near the Rocky Mountains.
Katharine Kreiner-Phillips is a former World Cup alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist from Canada.
David Murray was an alpine ski racer. He was noted for being a member of the Crazy Canucks, the Canadian downhill racers of the late 1970s and early 1980s known for their fearless racing style. His teammates in the group were Ken Read, Dave Irwin, and Steve Podborski.
Todd Brooker is a former alpine ski racer member Crazy Canucks and a ski commentator on television.
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. Kjetil is the current host of popular tv reality show Alt for Norge.
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Jim Hunter, nicknamed "Jungle Jim", is a Canadian former alpine ski racer who represented Canada at two Winter Olympic Games in 1972 and 1976, and won a bronze medal in the 1972 World Championships. He was a member of the Canadian Men's Alpine Ski Team nicknamed the "Crazy Canucks", and is considered to be the original Crazy Canuck.
Aleksander Aamodt Kilde is a Norwegian World Cup alpine ski racer. He competes in four events, with a main focus on super-G and downhill. Kilde hails from Bærum and represents the sports club Lommedalens IL.
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