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As was widely expected the 37 year-old Austrian Benjamin Raich has announced his retirement from & rsquo; & agrave activities; racing at a press conference in Vienna.
Thursday 10 September 2015 7 minutes reading time
Born February 28, 1978 in Leins, in the town of Arzl im Pitztal in Tyrol, Benjamin Raich, for all "Benni", shows the talent that & egrave; comes from an early age as 13 years, in 1991, he won the slalom Trofeo Topolino Boys category, that of the Under-14 began as a specialist in slalom and giant but then in the course of his career take & agrave; increasingly & ugrave; confidence with the speed & agrave ;, especially with super-G.
At the World Juniors in 1996 he won the & rsquo; gold in slalom and this success allows him, March 10, 1996, to compete in the first of his 441 races of the World Cup slalom in Hafjell NEIGHBORHOODS Lillehammer. In the maximum circuit until the 1997-1998 season will act to compete with the dropper since dedicated two other editions of the World Cup juniors (in 1997 he won the & rsquo; gold in giant slalom in 1998 and is in both giant slalom) and the European Cup, which triumphs in 1998 (adding trophies and giant slalom) with eight wins and five other podium finishes, terminer & agrave; to compete in the continental event & Outdoors; early 1999 and on 46 races totalizzer & agrave; 9 wins, 7 and 2 in giant slalom, and other nine podiums.
World Cup begins in earnest in the early days of 1999: & egrave; third in the slalom in Kranjska Gora and the next day came the first victory in the night slalom in Schladming with a sensational comeback from twenty-third position of the first run. Three days later, he also won the giant of Flachau, on the doorstep of his great compatriot Hermann Maier, relegated to third place. From that moment & egrave; an almost uninterrupted succession of triumphs that we will now summarize. He won the overall standings of the World Cup in 2006 and come in the top three in six other occasions, third in 2004, second in 2005 and from 2007 to 2010, also 1999 to 2010 never goes below the tenth place.
His victories in the Cup are 36 (sixth overall ever), one in super-G, 14th in giant slalom in 14 and 7 in the super combined, or, if you prefer; podiums are 92 (fourth ever), the placings in the top ten are 227 (of 441 races!), only Kjetil Andr & eacute; Aamodt stands before him in this special standings with 233. It & egrave; also took home six cups of specialty & agrave ;: two giant in 2005 and 2006, three slalom in 2001, 2005 and 2007, and a combo in 2010, although the ranking of multiple trial was the first in 2005 and 2006 but in those years the trophy was not awarded.
From 1999 to 2015 he participated in nine editions of the World Cup by winning ten medals: l & rsquo; silver in slalom in 2001, l & rsquo; gold in slalom and combined, l & rsquo; silver in giant slalom and the team event and bronze in super-G in 2005, l & rsquo; gold in the team event and the & rsquo; silver in super combined in 2007, l & rsquo; silver in giant slalom in 2007 and l & rsquo; silver in the team event in 2011. Just in quest & rsquo; last race Raich suffers l & rsquo; injury pi & ugrave; grave of his career, breaking the anterior cruciate ligament, the lateral meniscus and cartilage in his left knee. Finally, in four editions of the Winter Olympics, he won the bronze in slalom in 2002, thanks to the disqualification for doping of British Alain Baxter, and in combination, and in 2006 he made double d & rsquo; gold in giant slalom and slalom.
A sample immense both on the track and off, one of the pi & ugrave; largest of all time, and also very long-lived, given the almost twenty-year career in the World Cup. It & rsquo; Also famous for being half & agrave; the couple perhaps more & ugrave; winning all the history of alpine skiing: & egrave; for eleven years she was engaged to her compatriot Marlies Schild, the pi & ugrave; winner ever in slalom at the World Cup with 35 hits, retired the & rsquo; last year, who married on April 25 and that soon the render & agrave; for the first time father. Good luck to your life without ski racing, Benni, and thanks for everything!
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