Marc Girardelli

Marc Girardelli (born 18 July 1963) is a former alpine ski racer, a five-time World Cup overall champion who excelled in all five alpine disciplines.

Girardelli was born in Lustenau, Austria, started skiing at the age of five, and started racing at seven. He enjoyed significant success at junior level, winning local competitions in not only alpine skiing but also ski jumping. After initially racing for Austria until 1976, he switched to racing for Luxembourg due to disagreements about coaching - the Austrian skiing federation wanted Girardelli to attend a ski boarding school in Schruns, which is 30 miles from Lustenau, whilst his parents preferred for him to stay in his hometown. In 1981, he started to make significant progress with his first podium (top-three finish) in Wengen, Switzerland, and from that moment was in contention for slalom and giant slalom podiums on a regular basis.