Benjamin Raich

Benjamin Raich

— Alpine skier —
Raich in January 2008
Disciplines	Slalom, giant slalom, combined, super-G, downhill
Club	S.V. Leins Pitztal – Tirol
Born	(1978-02-28) 28 February 1978 (age 39) Arzl im Pitztal, Tyrol, Austria
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
World Cup debut	10 March 1996 (age 18)
Retired	10 September 2015 (age 37)
Website	Raich.at
Olympics
Teams	4 – (2002–2014)
Medals	4 (2 gold)
World Championships
Teams	9 – (1999–2015)
Medals	10 (3 gold)
World Cup
Seasons	18 – (1998–2015)
Wins	36 – (1 SG, 14 GS, 14 SL, 7 K)
Podiums	92
Overall titles	1 – (2006)
Discipline titles	8 – (2 GS, 3 SL, 3 K)
Medal record Men's alpine skiing Representing  Austria Olympic Games 2006 Turin Giant slalom 2006 Turin Slalom 2002 Salt Lake City Slalom 2002 Salt Lake City Combined World Championships 2005 Bormio Slalom 2005 Bormio Combined 2007 Åre Team event 2001 St. Anton Slalom 2005 Bormio Giant slalom 2005 Bormio Team event 2007 Åre Super combined 2009 Val-d'Isère Giant slalom 2011 Garmisch Team event 2005 Bormio Super-G Junior World Ski Championships 1996 Hoch-Ybrig Slalom 1997 Schladming Giant slalom 1998 Megève Giant slalom 1998 Megève Slalom 1998 Megève Combination

Benjamin Raich (born 28 February 1978 in Arzl im Pitztal, Tyrol) is a retired champion World Cup alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist from Austria. With 14 medals won at Winter Olympics and World Championships, 36 World Cup race victories (in all disciplines except downhill), one first place and five second places in the World Cup overall ranking, three victories of the slalom World Cup, three victories of the combined World Cup, two victories of the giant slalom World Cup and the highest score of career World Cup points (ahead of Norwegian Kjetil André Aamodt), he is considered among the best alpine racers in World Cup history.

After winning Junior World Championships in both slalom and giant slalom, Raich made his World Cup debut in March 1996. He scored his first victory in 1999, in slalom.

In 2001 he won the silver medal in slalom at the World Championships, and at the end of the season he won the slalom World Cup. In 2002 he won two bronze medals at the Salt Lake City Olympics.

Raich, who became better at faster specialities such as super-G and downhill with age also, in 2005 barely missed out on the overall World Cup title, placing second to American Bode Miller. At the 2005 World Championships he won a total of five medals, one for each race except for the downhill.

He won the 2006 World Cup overall title in the most successful season of his career, as well as Olympic gold medals in slalom and giant slalom at the Turin Olympics.