Kristian Ghedina (; born 20 November 1969) is an Italian alpine skiing coach and former competitive racer. His 13 victories are the second most by an Italian downhill specialist in World Cup history: the first is Dominik Paris with 21 victories. He is currently an auto racer.
Biography Ghedina was born in Cortina d'Ampezzo in the province of Belluno, and his mother tongue is Ladin. He studied in Innsbruck and made his World Cup debut in 1989. The following year, after a series of initial podiums and a ruinous fall, he won the last two downhills of the season. He won the silver medal in the Combined race of the 1991 World Championships at Saalbach, Austria; however, the following year he suffered a serious car crash.
Ghedina returned to his best form only in 1995, remaining among the best specialists in the speed disciplines until 2001, when he obtained the last of his 13 World Cup victories (12 Downhills and one Super-G, with a total of 33 podiums).Ski-db.com – Kristian Ghedina – accessed 9 March 2010 He won also another silver medal at the 1996 and a bronze in the 1997 championships, both in downhill. After his last World Cup victory he kept on racing for another five seasons, reaching 15 top-ten results, two of them podiums.
Ghedina probably gave his most remarkable performance on 24 January 2004 at the Hahnenkamm race in Kitzbühel: on the last jump, approaching the finish line at a speed of 137,6 km/h, he produced a straddle in the air ("spread eagle") which amazed spectators and TV commentators; nevertheless he gained a temporary lead in the race, which he finished sixth in the end.shown on YouTube-Videos - one in German followed by an interview, the other one in French
Ghedina retired from ski racing following the 2006 season. He has raced a BMW in the Italian Superturismo Championship and, driving a Lola, in the Formula 3000 International Masters. In 2012, he started working with the Croatian national ski team, advising the team on the alpine speed disciplines.
World Cup results Podium 13 wins (12 DH, 1 SG) 33 podiums (29 DH, 4 SG) DatePlaceDisciplineRank16/12/1989 Val Gardena Downhill 3rd11/01/1990 Schladming Downhill 2nd03/02/1990 Cortina d'Ampezzo Downhill 1st15/03/1990 Åre Downhill 1st13/01/1995 Kitzbühel Downhill 3rd20/01/1995 Wengen Downhill 1st25/02/1995 Whistler, BC Downhill 1st10/03/1995 Kvitfjell Super G 2nd11/03/1995 Kvitfjell Downhill 2nd06/03/1996 Kvitfjell Downhill 3rd20/12/1996 Val Gardena Downhill 3rd21/12/1996 Val Gardena Downhill 1st29/12/1996 Bormio Downhill 3rd11/01/1997 Chamonix Downhill 1st18/01/1997 Wengen Downhill 1st22/02/1997 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Downhill 3rd23/02/1997 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Super G 2nd12/03/1997 Vail, CO Downhill 2nd13/03/1997 Vail, CO Super G 3rd04/12/1997 Beaver Creek, CO Downhill 1st24/01/1998 Kitzbühel Downhill 1st19/12/1998 Val Gardena Downhill 1st27/11/1999 Vail, CO Downhill 3rd17/12/1999 Val Gardena Downhill 1st18/12/1999 Val Gardena Downhill 2nd22/01/2000 Kitzbühel Downhill 2nd29/01/2000 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Downhill 2nd04/03/2000 Kvitfjell Downhill 2nd05/03/2000 Kvitfjell Super G 1st16/12/2000 Val d'Isere Downhill 2nd14/12/2001 Val Gardena Downhill 1st02/03/2002 Kvitfjell Downhill 3rd08/01/2005 Chamonix Downhill 2nd
Overall Year/RankOverall DownhillGiantSuper-GCombined Rank Points Rank Points Rank Points Rank Points Rank Points1990 15th 97 6th 98 - - - - 7th 101991 22nd 63 11th 40 32nd 3 19th 10 6th 101992 43rd 206 15th 147 - - 39th 33 29th 261993 57th 139 27th 110 - - - - 20th 291994 40th 207 19th 146 - - 39th 9 7th 521995 7th 628 2nd 473 32nd 29 7th 126 - -1996 15th 492 8th 237 46th 9 10th 170 5th 761997 4th 990 2nd 700 - - 5th 218 6th 721998 11th 544 6th 412 - - 10th 114 - -1999 20th 355 8th 296 - - 36th 14 9th 452000 4th 958 2nd 677 - - 8th 216 8th 652001 60th 95 21st 95 - - - - - -2002 10th 505 3rd 381 - - 15th 88 12th 362003 98th 38 36th 35 - - 57th 3 - -2004 49th 169 20th 169 - - - - - -2005 32nd 257 12th 225 - - 34th 32 - -2006 35th 235 10th 235 - - - - - -
See also Italian skiers who closed in top 10 in overall World Cup
References
External links
– personal site – YouTube.com – victory (and crash) at Wengen – 1997-01-18 YouTube.com – spread eagle at Kitzbühel – 2004-01-24