Sarah Schleper

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Sarah Schleper
Sarah Schleper Semmering 2010.jpg
American alpine skier Sarah Schleper after the first run of the giant slalom in Semmering (Austria) on 28 December 2010.
CountryFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States
Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico
Full nameSarah Schleper de Gaxiola
Born (1979-02-19) February 19, 1979 (age 45)
Glenwood Springs, Colorado, U.S.
Spouse(s)Federico Gaxiola
World Cup career
Seasons1995-
Wins1

Sarah Schleper [1] (born February 19, 1979, in Glenwood Springs, Colorado), also known as Sarah Schleper de Gaxiola, [1] is former American, now Mexican alpine skier with dual Mexican citizenship via her marriage to a Mexican citizen, whose career started in 1995.

Contents

Personal life

Her father is Buzz Schleper, who owns a ski shop in Vail, Colorado. [2] She is married to Mexican Federico Gaxiola and acquired Mexican citizenship in April 2014. She is now a dual citizen and lives in Vail, and Los Cabos, Mexico. [3]

Career

Her lone World Cup victory was at a slalom event in Switzerland in 2005. [4] Her best finish at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships was seventh in the slalom event at Santa Caterina (near Bormio) in 2005.

Schleper also competed in four Winter Olympics for USA, [1] earning her best finish of tenth in the slalom event at Turin in 2006. Schleper was named to the US team for the 2010 Winter Olympics in late 2009. Schleper announced her retirement shortly before competing in her last world cup slalom on December 29, 2011, in Lienz, Austria. [5] In her career spanning a total of 15 years, she took part in 186 World Cup races and achieved four podium finishes and one victory.

As has become traditional—a skier in her retirement race can wear any apparel she desires—Schleper wore a thin brown summer dress, bare-armed and bare-legged, and stopped halfway down the course to pick up her 4-year-old son. She then skied the rest of the course with the boy in her arms, to the enjoyment of the crowd and fellow skiers. Lindsey Vonn gave Schleper a long hug in the finish area, and race organizers presented her with a huge bouquet of roses.

After acquiring Mexican citizenship in April 2014, she came out of retirement in June 2014, to represent Mexico. [3] She raced for Mexico in the women's giant slalom at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2015. [6] When she joined the Mexican ski team, she doubled the size of the team, serving alongside Prince Hubertus of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, a long time sole representative for Mexico at the world circuit. [1]

Schleper competed for Mexico at the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics. Her Olympic effort is self-funded. She represents one of two athletes for Alpine Mexico, the other being Rodolfo Dickson. [1] [7] [8] [9] [10] She qualified for the 2018 Olympics, alongside alpinist Rodolfo Dickson, freestyler Roberto Franco, and cross-country skier German Madrazo. [11] [12]

World Cup results

Season standings

SeasonAge Overall  Slalom Giant
 slalom 
Super-GDownhillCombined
1998 1910246
1999 20905143
2000 21502125
2001 22231121
2002 23221020
2003 24221221
2004 25171112
2005 2617520
2006 27652736
2007 28did not compete: birth her child
2008 29
2009 30975541
2010 31542620
2011 32533022
2012 3310748

Race podiums

SeasonDateLocationDisciplinePlace
2001 10 Dec 2000 Flag of Italy.svg Sestriere, Italy Slalom 2nd
30 Dec 2000 Flag of Austria.svg Semmering, Austria Giant slalom 3rd
2004 13 Mar 2004 Flag of Italy.svg Sestriere, ItalySlalom2nd
2005 12 Mar 2005  Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg   Lenzerheide, Switzerland Slalom1st

World Championship results

  Year   Age  Slalom  Giant 
 slalom 
Super-GDownhillCombined
Representing the Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
2001 22DNF1DNF1
2003 24DNF1DNF1
2005 26713
2009 30 28 31
2011 32 DNF2 50
Representing Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico
2015 36 DNF1 50
2017 38 DNF1 41 37 38 27
2019 40 42 29
2021 42 41
2023 44 DSQ1

Olympic results Olympic rings.svg

  Year   Age  Slalom  Giant 
 slalom 
Super-GDownhillCombined
Representing Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
1998 19 22 DNF2
2002 23 DNF1 21
2006 27 10 DNF2
2010 31 16 14
Representing Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico
2018 39 DNF2 41
2022 43 37 35

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Tik Root (March 6, 2015). "Mariachi Man: Prince Hubertus and the Mexican ski team he helped create". Sports Illustrated.
  2. John O’Neill (March 13, 2016). "How to be a 'ski bum': Buzz Schleper has built a successful business from catering to the ski crowds". VailDaily weekly. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  3. 1 2 Meyer, John (June 9, 2014). "Alpine ski racer Sarah Schleper coming out of retirement at age 35". Denver Post . Denver, Colorado, United States . Retrieved October 25, 2014.
  4. "FIS-Ski - resultats". Archived from the original on July 30, 2012.
  5. The Washington Post [ dead link ]
  6. "Double bonus for dual citizen Schleper at worlds". Yahoo Sports. February 13, 2015. Retrieved February 13, 2015.
  7. Adriana Terrazas (October 31, 2017). "'Tres' company for the Mexico ski team in the Winter Olympics". ESPN.
  8. "Tres mexicanos acudirán a Pyeongchang 2018" (in Spanish). Esportes.MX. May 18, 2017. Archived from the original on February 17, 2018. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
  9. "México estará presente en los Juegos Olímpicos Invernales de 2018" (in Spanish). SIPSE.com. August 11, 2017.
  10. Carlos Alberto Cruz (February 23, 2017). "México con cuatro o cinco atletas a Pyeongchang 2018". El Big Data.
  11. Luis Gomez (February 9, 2018). "How to root for Team Mexico in the 2018 Winter Olympics". San Diego Union-Tribune.
  12. Abigail Parra (February 7, 2018). "Delegación mexicana en PyeonChang 2018, la más grande desde 1992" (in Spanish). mediotiempo.