Who was Ingemar Stenmark Ski Racer?
Ingemar Stenmark is a former Swedish alpine ski racer. He set the record with 86 World Cup win during the fen years of his professional career. He is considered as one of the most famous Swedish athletes ever.
Ingemar Stenmark was born on March 18, 1956, in Sweden. He grew up in Tarnaby, which were just a few miles from the Article Circle. He used to live with his grandparents on a farm outside Tarnaby before he moved into town. Stenmark got interested in skiing because of his father, Erik Stenmark, who was also national skier. He started skiing at the age of five and his first coach was his father.
Early Life of Stenmark
Stenmark was shy and reserved as a kid. He started skiing because it was something he could enjoy alone. He used to ski every day for hours, after school and even during the cold weather. His hard work soon began to pay off. Stenmark was seven when he won his first race. By the age of eight, he’d won his first national competition. In 1965, he was selected for an annual international race in Italy.
He placed fourteen in the race during his first attempt at the fourteen at the slalom race. To focus more on the sport, Stenmark fully committed his time skiing. He dropped out of school after completing his primary education.
World Cup Event in Europe by Stenmark
Stenmark started to train with the Swiss junior national team at the age of thirteen. He trained for the worst: the giant slalom on the steeper and the more challenging courses in Italy. In the 1972-73 seasons, his best ranks were fourth and fifth in the Swedish junior nationals. The next season, Stenmark made significant improvement once he realized he could get more consistent wins by not taking unnecessary risks during the races.
The most significant moment of Starmark’s career came in 1974. He was part of the European racing circuit and participated in his first ever World Cup event where he placed second in the slalom. Soon after, in December 1974, he got his first World Cup victory with the slalom at Madonna di Campiglio in Italy. In the 1978-79 seasons he won a total of thirteen slalom races, a record no one has managed to beat.
Carrier & Achievements
After he won three back-to-back world cup titles, he was viewed as a star in Sweden. He also received the highest Swedish honor, a special gold medal, bestowed upon him by Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf. However, for Stenmark, the year 1979 did not end well. He suffered from a concussion and sustained injuries during a training run-on the Italian Alps in September 1979.
It took him three weeks to recover in the hospital. Soon after, during the 1979-80 World Cup, Stenmark won ten races. He again took both the slalom and giant titles, but the lost the World Cup by six points and came in second instead. In 1980, he participated in the Winter Olympics held at Lake Placid, New York. He won gold medals for both slalom and right and giant slalom.
Retirement of Stenmark, and Love Context
The year 1984 was an unfortunate one for Stenmark. He was not allowed to participated in the 1984 Olympic games due to the technically of his sponsorship contract. In 1988, he was again allowed to compete in the Olympics once he had taken care of his endorsement contracts. However, Stenmark was not in his best from that season. In 1989, he announced his retirement from the sport.
Stenmark has been married thrice. His first marriage was to Ann Ufhagen, which lasted until 1988. His last marriage was in 2016; he married his long-time girlfriend, Tajra Olli. He is the father of two daughters. With his notable achievements in sports Stenmark became a national icon for sports in Sweden from 1976 to 1978.