Maria Höfl-Riesch (; née Riesch; born 24 November 1984) is a German former alpine ski racer. She is a three-time Olympic champion, two-time World champion, an overall World Cup champion and five-time World junior champion.
Höfl-Riesch made her World Cup debut in February 2001 and won gold medals in slalom and super combined at the 2010 Winter Olympics. She won the World Cup overall title in 2011. At the 2014 Winter Olympics, she defended her super combined title to win her third Olympic gold medal, and also won a silver medal in the super-G.
Career Born in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Höfl-Riesch competed in racing as a junior and won seven medals in all of the disciplines at four Junior World Championships, including three gold medals in combined and super-G.
As the racing careers of Martina Ertl-Renz and Hilde Gerg concluded, Höfl-Riesch rose as the leading female racer on the German national team. Injuries cut short her seasons in 2005 and 2006, causing her to miss the 2005 World Championships and the 2006 Winter Olympics.
During the 2009 season, Höfl-Riesch won four slalom events on the World Cup tour and won the gold medal in the slalom at the World Championships. Prior to 2009, her most successful season was in 2004, when she finished third in the overall World Cup standings, with three race victories. She also finished third in the overall standings in 2008. In the 2007 season she won her second downhill race, at Lake Louise, Canada.
Riesch won two gold medals at the 2010 Winter Olympics, in the super combined and slalom. After finishing second in the overall World Cup standings in 2009 and 2010, Riesch built a big lead early in the 2011 season which was enough to win the overall title, besting three-time defending champion Lindsey Vonn of the U.S. by just three points. At the World Cup finals in Lenzerheide, Vonn took the overall lead after the downhill, then Riesch reclaimed it after the slalom; the super-G and giant slalom races were cancelled due to poor conditions. She retired after the 2014 season after crashing in the downhill World Cup Final.
Personal Höfl-Riesch is also a nationally ranked tennis player and a cyclist. Her younger sister, Susanne Riesch, is also a former World Cup ski racer, specializing in the slalom. Her uncle, Wolfgang Zimmerer was a bobsledder during the 1960s and 1970s and competed for West Germany in the Winter Olympics, winning gold with Peter Utzschneider at the Two-man bobsleigh during the 1972 Winter Olympics. She has been a chief constable in the Bundeszollverwaltung (German Federal Customs Service) during her sports career.
One of her closest friends (and major rival) on the World Cup tour was Lindsey Vonn of the United States.
Höfl-Riesch married her manager Marcus Höfl on 14 April 2011.
At a height of , she was one of the tallest women on the World Cup circuit.
World Cup results
Season titles 6 titles – (1 overall, 1 downhill, 1 super-G, 2 slalom, 1 combined) Season Discipline2008 Super-G Combined 2009 Slalom 2010 Slalom 2011 Overall 2014 Downhill
Season standings Season Age Overall Slalom Giant slalom Super-G Downhill Combined 2001 16 109 – – 42 — — 2002 17 96 46 50 — — — 2003 18 32 40 42 37 14 3 2004 19 3 9 18 5 7 — 2005 20 43 44 32 26 27 — 2006 21 69 – 49 35 44 — 2007 22 14 25 22 18 7 36 2008 23 3 8 25 1 9 1 2009 24 2 1 15 10 3 4 2010 25 2 1 8 9 2 5 2011 26 1 3 8 2 2 3 2012 27 3 7 16 6 4 4 2013 28 2 9 6 5 3 9 2014 29 2 5 14 5 1 3
Source:
Race victories 27 wins – (11 DH, 3 SG, 9 SL, 4 SC) + 1 NTE SeasonDateLocationDiscipline20043 victories(1 DH, 1 SG, 1 SL)30 Jan 2004 Haus im Ennstal, Austria Downhill1 Feb 2004 Super-G29 Feb 2004 Levi, Finland Slalom2007 1 Dec 2006 Lake Louise, Canada Downhill2008(1 SG, 1 SC)21 Jan 2008 Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy Super-G24 Feb 2008 Whistler, Canada Super combined20095 victories(4 SL, 1 SC)14 Dec 2008 La Molina, Spain Slalom29 Dec 2008 Semmering, Austria Slalom4 Jan 2009 Zagreb, Croatia Slalom11 Jan 2009 Maribor, Slovenia Slalom20 Feb 2009 Tarvisio, Italy Super combined20103 victories(1 SL, 2 DH)14 Nov 2009 Levi, Finland Slalom30 Jan 2010 St. Moritz, Switzerland Downhill10 Mar 2010 Garmisch, Germany Downhill20117 victories(3 DH, 1 SL, 1 SC,1 SG, 1 NTE)3 Dec 2010 Lake Louise, Canada Downhill4 Dec 2010 Downhill11 Jan 2011 Flachau, Austria Slalom 22 Jan 2011 Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy Downhill25 Feb 2011 Åre, Sweden Super combined27 Feb 2011 Super-G20 Mar 2011 Lenzerheide, Switzerland Team event20123 victories(1 DH, 1 SL, 1 SC) 29 Jan 2012 St. Moritz, Switzerland Super combined 18 Feb 2012 Sochi, Russia Downhill 10 Mar 2012 Åre, Sweden Slalom2013 10 Nov 2012 Levi, Finland Slalom20143 victories(3 DH) 6 Dec 2013 Lake Louise, Canada Downhill 7 Dec 2013 Downhill24 Jan 2014 Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy Downhill
World Championship results Year Age Slalom Giant slalom Super-G Downhill Combined 2003 18 DNF1 DNF1 DNF 17 5 2005 20 injured, did not compete 2007 22 — 23 10 9 7 2009 24 1 28 8 10 4 2011 26 4 DNF2 3 3 11 2013 28 DNF2 9 DNF 3 1
Olympic results Year Age Slalom Giant slalom Super-G Downhill Combined 2006 21 injured, did not compete 2010 25 1 10 8 8 1 2014 29 4 DNS1 2 13 1
See also List of FIS Alpine Ski World Cup women's race winners
References
External links
Photo report: Celebrating Maria Riesch