Bernhard Russi (born 20 August 1948) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Switzerland. Born in Andermatt in the canton of Uri, he is an Olympic, World Cup, and World champion in the downhill event.Bernhard Russi . sports-reference.com
Racing career Russi made his World Cup debut at age 19 in January 1968 at a giant slalom in Adelboden. After two races in 1968 and six in 1969, he joined the World Cup circuit full-time in December 1969.bernhardrussi.ch – career results – accessed 2011-01-01 However, his racing career was set back at this time by his work as a stuntman in the movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service which was filmed in Switzerland and during which he fractured a cervical vertebra. After a period of rehabilitation from this injury, he was able, for the first time in several months, to compete in the downhill Race at Val d'Isère on 14 December 1969, in which he placed 14th. He gained World Cup Points by recording his first World Cup top ten finish (tenth in the downhill on 10 January on the Lauberhorn piste in Wengen). He went on to achieve a fourth place in the downhill at Garmisch-Partenkirchen on 1 February, leading to him being selected for the Swiss team at the 1970 World Championships, where he won his first event, the downhill, ahead of Karl Cordin of Austria and Australian Malcolm Milne. It was a race with fresh snow, and he was the 15th racer on the start list - a good number for such conditions. He won despite suffering a hand fracture a week before in a practice race, contending with the pain during his winning run. Notably, he skied his winning run without ski wax as his coach Paul Berlinger scraped the wax off his skis directly before the start. Because the World Championships counted towards the World Cup at this time, his World Championship win was also his first World Cup race victory. Two years later at the 1972 Olympics in Sapporo, Japan, he won the gold medal in the same discipline on Mt. Eniwa. Countryman Roland Collombin secured the silver and a Swiss one-two. Russi won the World Cup season title in downhill in 1971 and 1972. That year, he was named as Swiss Sportsman of the Year for the second time, and he was also awarded with the Skieur d’Or, for the world's ski racer of the year, and the Étoile d’Or (the Gold Star).
His performance in the 1974 World Championships on home snow was disappointing; he was thirteenth in the downhill at St. Moritz. At the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, Russi nearly retained his Olympic title with a very fast time in the downhill at Patscherkofel, but took the silver medal. The third racer on the course, he finished 0.33 seconds behind Franz Klammer of Austria, who started fifteenth, the last of the top seeds. To date (2018) no men's Olympic champion in the downhill has successfully defended his title; Russi remains the sole defender to medal.
As in 1974, his performance in the 1978 World Championships at Garmisch was disappointing, finishing fourteenth in the downhill in late January. As a result of this, he retired from international competition a few days later with ten World Cup victories, 28 podiums, and 52 top ten finishes. In addition to his two downhill titles in 1971 and 1972, Russi was second in 1973 and third in 1976 and 1977. His best finish in the overall standings was fifth, achieved three times in 1971, 1972, and 1977.Ski-db.com – Bernard Russi – World Cup results – accessed 2010-03-06FIS-ski.com – Bernhard Russi – World Cup season rankings – accessed 2010-03-06
From 1948 through 1980, the Winter Olympics also served as the world championships for alpine skiing. During the early seasons of the World Cup, the Olympics (1968) and world championships (1970) were included in the World Cup season standings; these major competitions were excluded beginning with the 1971 season.
After racing Russi currently serves as the chairman of the FIS Alpine Committee and is a FIS technical advisor for downhill course design. Beginning with the 1988 Winter Olympics, Russi has been noted as a designer of downhill courses for the Olympics, and he has also designed such courses for the FIS Alpine Skiing World Championships. The Rattlesnake-course at Vail in 1989 was a "formidable challenge" to him. Another famous course of his was the La face de Bellevarde at Val-d’Isère (1992 Winter Olympics), and he was the construction supervisor for the Rosa Khutor course at Krasnaja Poljana (2014 Winter Olympics). This stemmed from dissatisfaction with the courses at the 1980 and 1984 games; since Russi took over, there have been few complaints. – Bernhard Russi: Olympic Downhill Designer – 2001-10-17 – accessed 2012-03-20fisalpine.com – Next up Sochi – Interview with Bernhard Russi – 2012-02-06 – accessed 2012-03-20 He also serves as a commentator for alpine ski racing on Swiss television.Swiss Community.org – people – canton of Uri – accessed 2012-03-20 - He also is a brand ambassador for Japanese car manufacturer Subaru and for several Swiss companies. After the end of his marriage to Michèle Rubi (a three-times Swiss Skiing Champion in 1970) he married Mari Bergström from Sweden. He has a son by his first wife and a daughter by his second.
World Cup results
Season titles SeasonDiscipline1971 Downhill1972 Downhill
Season standings Season Age Overall Slalom Giant Slalom Super G Downhill Combined 1970 21 19 — — notrun 5 awardedonly in1976 1971 22 5 — 8 1 1972 23 5 — 23 1 1973 24 6 — — 2 1974 25 17 — — 4 1975 26 11 — — 4 1976 27 8 — — 3 — 1977 28 5 — — 3 1978 29 28 — — 12
Race podiums 10 wins – (9 DH, 1 GS) 28 podiums – (27 DH, 1 GS), 52 top tens (50 DH, 2 GS) Season Date Location Discipline Place 1970 15 Feb 1970 Val Gardena, Italy – (W.Ch.) ^Downhill 1st 1971 16 Jan 1971 St. Moritz, Switzerland Downhill 2nd 31 Jan 1971 Megève, France Downhill 1st 13 Feb 1971 Mt. Ste. Anne, Canada Giant slalom 1st 18 Feb 1971 Sugarloaf, USA Downhill 1st 1972 5 Dec 1972 St. Moritz, Switzerland Downhill 1st14 Jan 1972 Kitzbühel, Austria Downhill 3rd 1972 Winter Olympics25 Feb 1972 Crystal Mountain, USA Downhill 1st26 Feb 1972 Downhill 2nd25 Mar 1972 Val Gardena, Italy Downhill 1st 1973 7 Jan 1973 Garmisch, West Germany Downhill 3rd13 Jan 1973 Grindelwald, Switzerland Downhill 1st27 Jan 1973 Kitzbühel, Austria Downhill 2nd3 Feb 1973 St. Anton, Austria Downhill 1st 1974 22 Dec 1973 Schladming, Austria Downhill 3rd 1975 26 Jan 1975 Innsbruck, Austria Downhill 2nd21 Mar 1975 Val Gardena, Italy Downhill 3rd 1976 7 Dec 1975 Val-d'Isère, France Downhill 3rd9 Jan 1976 Wengen, Switzerland Downhill 3rd17 Jan 1976 Morzine, France Downhill 2nd 1976 Winter Olympics 1977 18 Dec 1976 Val Gardena, Italy Downhill 3rd15 Jan 1977 Kitzbühel, Austria Downhill 3rd22 Jan 1977 Wengen, Switzerland Downhill 3rd30 Jan 1977 Morzine, France Downhill 1st31 Jan 1977 Downhill 3rd 18 Feb 1977 Laax, Switzerland Downhill 3rd 12 Mar 1977 Heavenly Valley, USA Downhill 3rd 1978 22 Dec 1977 Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy Downhill 2nd ^ Results from the 1970 World Championships (and 1968 Winter Olympics) were included in the World Cup standings.
World championship results Year Age Slalom Giant Slalom Super-G Downhill Combined 1970 21 — — notrun 1 — 1972 23 — — 1 — 1974 25 — — 13 — 1976 27 — — 2 — 1978 29 — — 14 — From 1948 through 1980, the Winter Olympics were also the World Championships for alpine skiing.
Olympic results Year Age Slalom Giant Slalom Super-G Downhill Combined 1972 23 — — notrun 1 notrun 1976 27 — — 2
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