Thomas Fanara

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Thomas Fanara
Portrait Ski FANARA.jpg
Fanara, c. 2009
Personal information
Born (1981-04-24) 24 April 1981 (age 43)
Annecy, Haute-Savoie, France
Occupation Alpine skier
Height170 cm (5 ft 7 in)
Skiing career
Disciplines Giant slalom
ClubDouanes –
C.S. Praz-sur-Arly
World Cup debut11 January 2005 (age 23)
Retired16 March 2019 (age 37)
Olympics
Teams3 – (2006, 2014, 2018)
Medals0
World Championships
Teams6 – (200715, 2019)
Medals1 (1 gold)
World Cup
Seasons15 – (20052019)
Wins1 – (1 GS)
Podiums14 – (14 GS)
Overall titles0 – (23rd in 2016)
Discipline titles0 – (4th in GS, 2014)
Medal record
Men's alpine skiing
Representing Flag of France.svg  France
World Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2011 Garmisch Team event

Thomas Fanara (born 24 April 1981) is a former French World Cup alpine ski racer.

Contents

Born in Annecy, Haute-Savoie, Fanara specialised in giant slalom; his only win came in March 2016 at the giant slalom finals in St. Moritz, Switzerland. He is the oldest racer to reach a World Cup podium in giant slalom, and competed for France at three Winter Olympics and six World Championships. He retired from competition at the end of the 2018–19 season. [1]

World Cup

Fanara has started over 70 World cup races, mostly in giant slalom but also in slalom, and has been on the podium fourteen times. [2] For some time he held the record for most World Cup podium finishes without a win until his victory at the World Cup finals in St. Moritz in 2016. [1] In December 2007, he fell and hurt himself in the second run after winning the first run of a race in Bad Kleinkirchheim, but finished. Two years later in December 2009, Fanara incurred a season-ending injury to his left knee after a spectacular fall during a race in Beaver Creek, [3] [4] [5] two months before the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Following his World Cup win in St. Moritz, Fanara suffered an injury which kept him out of competition for the 2016–17 season. However, he subsequently made a successful return, taking a number of podium finished in his final season. [1]

Season standings

SeasonAgeOverallSlalomGiant
slalom
Super-GDownhillCombined
2005 2313654
2006 245918
2007 257817
2008 268325
2009 274813
2010 2813850
2011 29376
2012 304812
2013 31295
2014 32294
2015 33275
2016 34236
2017 357323
2018 366018
2019 37307
Standings through 24 February 2019

Race podiums

SeasonDateLocationDisciplinePlace
2011 19 Dec 2010 Flag of Italy.svg Alta Badia, Italy Giant slalom 3rd
8 Jan 2011  Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg   Adelboden, SwitzerlandGiant slalom3rd
2013 16 Dec 2012 Flag of Italy.svg Alta Badia, ItalyGiant slalom3rd
2014 14 Dec 2013 Flag of France.svg Val-d'Isère, France  Giant slalom  2nd
12 Jan 2014  Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg   Adelboden, SwitzerlandGiant slalom2nd
2015 21 Dec 2014 Flag of Italy.svg Alta Badia, ItalyGiant slalom3rd
14 Mar 2015 Flag of Slovenia.svg Kranjska Gora, SloveniaGiant slalom3rd
21 Mar 2015 Flag of France.svg Méribel, FranceGiant slalom3rd
2016 25 Oct 2015 Flag of Austria.svg Sölden, AustriaGiant slalom2nd
26 Feb 2016 Flag of Austria.svg Hinterstoder, AustriaGiant slalom3rd
19 Mar 2016  Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg   St. Moritz, SwitzerlandGiant slalom1st
2019 16 Dec 2018 Flag of Italy.svg Alta Badia, ItalyGiant slalom2nd
12 Jan 2019  Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg   Adelboden, SwitzerlandGiant slalom3rd
24 Feb 2019 Flag of Bulgaria.svg Bansko, BulgariaGiant slalom3rd

World championships

Fanara has competed in four World Championships in the giant slalom discipline. In 2007 in Åre, Sweden, he finished 16th, but on home country snow in 2009 in Val-d'Isère, France, he did not finish the first run. At Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, he finished sixth in 2011 but failed to finish the first run in 2013 at Schladming, Austria. [6] Fanara participated in the team event in 2011 at Garmisch and earned a gold medal.

  Year   Age  Slalom  Giant 
 slalom 
Super-GDownhillCombined
2007 25 16
2009 27 DNF1
2011 29 6
2013 31 DNF1
2015 33 DNF1
2017 35Injured: did not compete
2019 37 DNF2

Olympics

At the Winter Olympics, Fanara did not finish the first run of the giant slalom in 2006 and was injured two months prior the 2010 Games and did not compete.

  Year   Age  Slalom  Giant 
 slalom 
Super-GDownhillCombined
2006 24 DNF1
2010 28injured, did not compete
2014 32 9
2018 36 5

National championships

Fanara reached the podium of French national championships four times, all in giant slalom. In 2005 he was third; in 2006 he was second; and he won in 2007 and 2009. [2] [7]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Vonn, Svindal and other athletes decide to retire after this season". International Ski Federation. 28 January 2019. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  2. 1 2 Thomas Fanara at the International Ski and Snowboard Federation
  3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgPOFmLLHIw Thomas Fanara Sturz Beaver Creek 06.12.2009
  4. Assier, Andre (8 December 2009). "Alpine skiing – Injured Grange out of Winter Olympics". ESPN. Reuters. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
  5. McKee, Hank (10 December 2009). "Grange will miss Olympics". Ski Racing. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
  6. Race results at FIS-ski.com (World Championships
  7. "JO Turin 2006 – Thomas Fanara" (in French). Skier profile on France's 2006 Olympics page