Tamara McKinney

Last updated

Tamara McKinney
Tamara McKinney.png
Personal information
Born (1962-10-16) October 16, 1962 (age 61)
Lexington, Kentucky, U.S.
Occupation Alpine skier
Height5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)
Skiing career
Disciplines Giant slalom, slalom, combined
World Cup debutDecember 1978 (age 16)
RetiredNovember 1990 (age 28) [1]
Website tamaramckinney.com
Olympics
Teams3 – (1980, 1984, 1988)
Medals0
World Championships
Teams5 – (1980 1989)
Medals4 (1 gold)
World Cup
Seasons11 – (1979 1989)
Wins18 – (9 GS, 9 SL)
Podiums45
Overall titles1 – (1983)
Discipline titles3 – (2 GS, 1 SL)
Medal record
Women's alpine skiing
Representing the
Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
World Cup race podiums
Event1st2nd3rd
Slalom988
Giant slalom934
Super-G001
Combined021
Total181314
World Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1989 Vail Combined
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 1989 Vail Slalom
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 1987 Crans-Montana Combined
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 1985 Bormio Combined

Tamara McKinney (born October 16, 1962) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from the United States. She won four World Cup season titles, most notably the 1983 overall, the first American woman title holder for a quarter century. McKinney's other three season titles were in giant slalom (1981, 1983) and slalom (1984). She was a world champion in the combined event in 1989, her final year of competition. [2]

Contents

Her half-brother Steve McKinney was a world-record holding speed skier, setting seven world records and breaking his own record twice.

Life and career

Born in Lexington, Kentucky, the diminutive McKinney (5 ft 4 in (1.63 m), 115 lb (52 kg)) grew up in Squaw Valley, California, the youngest of seven children. [3] [4]

She made her World Cup debut in December 1978 at age 16 with a podium finish in a slalom in Italy. Her first World Cup victory came at age 18 in January 1981, the first of four wins in giant slalom that breakthrough season. McKinney raced on the World Cup circuit for eleven seasons, and competed in three Olympics and five world championships. She won four medals in the world championships; bronze medals in the combined (1985, 1987) and slalom (1989), and a gold medal in the combined at Vail in 1989.

While winning the overall World Cup in 1983 at age 20, she also won the giant slalom title, which she had first won in 1981. In 1984 McKinney won the slalom title, and took fourth place in the giant slalom at the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, behind teammates Debbie Armstrong and Christin Cooper. [5] [6] [7] [8] McKinney participated in Prince Edward Windsor of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland's charity television special The Grand Knockout Tournament in 1987.

While training for the upcoming 1990 season, McKinney broke her left leg (for the third time) in Saas Fee, Switzerland, in mid-October 1989. [9] Slow to recover, she announced her retirement in November 1990 at age 28 [1] and completed her career with 18 World Cup victories, 45 podiums, and 99 top ten finishes. [10] Eight of her victories were in the U.S., with six at Waterville Valley, New Hampshire, which included double victories in 1983 and 1984. Along with Gretchen Fraser, Andrea Mead Lawrence, Lindsey Vonn, and Mikaela Shiffrin, McKinney is regarded as one of the top female alpine ski racers in U.S. history.

She was inducted in the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004, was a realtor in the Lake Tahoe area, and is now coaching skiing at the Aspen Valley Ski Club in Aspen, Colorado for Johno McBride.

World Cup results

Season standings

SeasonAgeOverallSlalomGiant
slalom
Super GDownhillCombined
1979 16252113not
run
1980 17141024
1981 1867112
1982 199124
1983 20121not
awarded
(w/ GS)
6
1984 213139
1985 22821117
1986 232414203128
1987 24621032
1988 255419
1989 26113138
1990 27injured in October, missed entire season

Season titles

SeasonDiscipline
1981 Giant slalom
1983 Overall
Giant slalom
1984 Slalom

Race victories

SeasonDateLocationDiscipline
1981 20 Jan 1981  Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg   Haute-Nendaz, Switzerland Giant slalom
24 Jan 1981 Flag of France.svg Les Gets, France Giant slalom
8 Mar 1981 Flag of the United States.svg Aspen, CO, USA Giant slalom
1983 5 Dec 1982 Flag of Italy.svg Limone Piemonte, Italy Slalom
9 Jan 1983  Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg   Davos, Switzerland Slalom
23 Jan 1983 Flag of France.svg St. Gervais, FranceGiant slalom
8 Mar 1983 Flag of the United States.svg Waterville Valley, NH, USAGiant slalom
9 Mar 1983Giant slalom
13 Mar 1983 Flag of the United States.svg Vail, CO, USAGiant slalom
20 Mar 1983 Flag of Japan.svg Furano, Japan Slalom
1984 10 Mar 1984 Flag of the United States.svg Waterville Valley, NH, USAGiant slalom
11 Mar 1984Slalom
21 Mar 1984 Flag of Germany.svg Zwiesel, West Germany Giant slalom
24 Mar 1984 Flag of Norway.svg Oslo, Norway Slalom
1985 5 Jan 1985 Flag of Yugoslavia (1946-1992).svg Maribor, Yugoslavia Slalom
16 Mar 1985 Flag of the United States.svg Waterville Valley, NH, USASlalom
1987 18 Dec 1986 Flag of Italy.svg Courmayeur, ItalySlalom
11 Jan 1987 Flag of Austria.svg Mellau, Austria Slalom

World championship results

  Year   Age  Slalom  Giant 
 slalom 
Super-GDownhillCombined
1980 17 DNF1 DNF1 not run
1982 19 DNF1 6
1985 22DNFDNF3
1987 24DNF1183
1989 263DNF1

From 1948 through 1980, the Winter Olympics were also the World Championships for alpine skiing.

Olympic results Olympic rings.svg

  Year   Age  Slalom  Giant 
 slalom 
Super-GDownhillCombined
1980 17 DNF1 DNF1 not run not run
1984 21 DNF1 4
1988 25 DNF1 DNF1

Video

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hanni Wenzel</span> Liechtensteiner alpine skier

Hannelore (Hanni) Wenzel is a retired Liechtensteiner alpine ski racer. Wenzel is a former Olympic, World Cup, and world champion. She won Liechtenstein's first-ever Olympic medal at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, and its first two Olympic gold medals four years later in Lake Placid, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mateja Svet</span> Slovenian alpine skier

Mateja Svet ; born 16 August 1968) is a Slovenian former alpine skier, who competed for Yugoslavia from 1984 to 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janica Kostelić</span> Croatian alpine skier (born 1982)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ingemar Stenmark</span> Swedish alpine skier (born 1956)

Jan Ingemar Stenmark is a Swedish former World Cup alpine ski racer. He is regarded as one of the most prominent Swedish athletes ever, and as the greatest slalom and giant slalom specialist of all time. He competed for Tärna IK Fjällvinden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tina Maze</span> Slovenian alpine skier

Tina Maze is a retired Slovenian World Cup alpine ski racer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marc Girardelli</span> Austrian-Luxembourgian alpine ski racer

Marc Girardelli is an Austrian–Luxembourger former alpine ski racer, a five-time World Cup overall champion who excelled in all five alpine disciplines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia Mancuso</span> American alpine skier

Julia Marie Mancuso is an American retired World Cup alpine ski racer, Olympic gold medalist and podcast host. She won the giant slalom at the 2006 Winter Olympics, and was the silver medalist in both downhill and combined in 2010, and the bronze medalist in the combined in 2014. She has also won five medals at the World Championships and seven races in regular World Cup competition. Her four Olympic medals are the most ever for a female American alpine skier.

Debra Rae "Debbie" Armstrong is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Seattle, Washington. She was the first Olympic gold medalist from the U.S. in women's alpine skiing in twelve years, winning the giant slalom at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lindsey Vonn</span> American alpine skier (born 1984)

Lindsey Caroline Vonn is an American former 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.

Christin Elizabeth Cooper is a former World Cup alpine ski racer and Olympic medalist from the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cindy Nelson</span> American alpine skier

Cynthia Lee Nelson is former World Cup alpine ski racer from the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gustav Thöni</span> Italian alpine skier

Gustav Thöni is an Italian retired alpine ski racer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kathy Kreiner</span> Canadian alpine skier

Katharine Kreiner-Phillips is a former World Cup alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist from Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Šárka Strachová</span> Czech alpine skier

Šárka Strachová is a retired Czech World Cup alpine ski racer. Born in Benecko, she specializes in the slalom event. Strachová is the first alpine racer representing the Czech Republic to medal at the Winter Olympics and at the World Championships and just the second Czech alpine skier ever to medal in the Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elisabeth Görgl</span> Austrian alpine skier

Elisabeth Görgl is a retired World Cup alpine ski racer from Austria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kjetil Jansrud</span> Norwegian alpine skier

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tina Weirather</span> Liechtenstein alpine skier

Christina Weirather is a retired Liechtensteiner World Cup alpine ski racer. She won a bronze medal in Super-G for Liechtenstein at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

The Women's giant slalom competition of the Sarajevo 1984 Olympics was held at Jahorina on Monday, February 13. Because of weather delays with the downhills, this was the first alpine event of these Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ester Ledecká</span> Czech snowboarder and skier (born 1995)

Ester Ledecká is a Czech snowboarder and alpine skier. At the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Ledecká won gold medals in the super-G in alpine skiing and in the parallel giant slalom in snowboarding, becoming the first person to not only compete in the Winter Olympics using two different types of equipment but to go further and win two gold medals and do so at the same Winter Olympics. She was the second woman to win an Olympic gold in two separate disciplines but the first to do so at the same Winter Olympics. She was the first Czech to win the parallel giant slalom in snowboarding at the FIS Snowboard World Cup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petra Vlhová</span> Slovak alpine skier (born 1995)

Petra Vlhová is a Slovak World Cup alpine ski racer who specialises in the technical events of slalom and giant slalom. Vlhová won the World Cup overall title in 2021 and the gold medal in the 2022 Winter Olympics in the slalom event, becoming the first Slovak skier to achieve these feats.

References

  1. 1 2 "Champion skier retires". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. 28 November 1990. p. 2B.
  2. "Tamara McKinney profile". fis-ski.com. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  3. Johnson, William Oscar (7 February 1983). "To her, speed thrills". Sports Illustrated. p. 40.
  4. Beech, Mark (18 March 2002). "Catching up with: Tamara McKinney and Phil Mahre, skiers". Sports Illustrated. p. 21.
  5. Nelson, John (13 February 1984). "America discovers gold and silver on alpine hills". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). Associated Press. p. D1.
  6. "USA strikes gold in Winter Games". Nashua Telegraph. (New Hampshire). Associated Press. 14 February 1984. p. 19.
  7. "America cheers its first champion". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire services reports. 14 February 1984. p. 1D.
  8. Johnson, William Oscar (20 February 1984). "'Have fun! Have fun! Have fun!'". Sports Illustrated. p. 18.
  9. "Tamara McKinney breaks leg, might miss entire World Cup". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). Associated Press. 19 October 1989. p. D5.
  10. Ski-db.com - Tamara McKinney - accessed 2010-11-28