Carlo Janka

Carlo Janka

— Alpine skier —
Janka in February 2009
Disciplines	Downhill, Super G, Giant slalom, Combined
Club	Obersaxen
Born	(1986-10-15) 15 October 1986 (age 30) Obersaxen, Graubünden, Switzerland
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
World Cup debut	21 December 2005 (age 19)
Website	carlo-janka.ch
Olympics
Teams	2 – (2010, 2014)
Medals	1 (1 gold)
World Championships
Teams	5 – (2009–2017)
Medals	2 (1 gold)
World Cup
Seasons	11th – (2007–17)
Wins	11 – (3 DH, 1 SG, 4 GS, 3 SC)
Podiums	26
Overall titles	1 – (2010)
Discipline titles	1 – (SC, 2009)
Medal record Men's alpine skiing Representing Switzerland Olympic Games 2010 Vancouver Giant slalom World Championships 2009 Val d'Isère Giant slalom 2009 Val d'Isère Downhill

Carlo Janka (born 15 October 1986) is a champion alpine ski racer from Switzerland. Born in Obersaxen in the canton of Graubünden, he had the winter sports facilities right in front of his home. Janka has won gold medals at both the Winter Olympics and the World Championships, as well as one World Cup overall title and one discipline title.

In 2013, Janka set a World Cup speed record in the downhill part of the super combined event in Wengen, Switzerland. He reached a maximum speed of 158.77 km/h (98.66 mph) on the Haneggschuss, the fastest section of the classic Lauberhorn slope, on 18 January.

Janka competed in his first international FIS race in December 2001 at age 15. Not until four years later did he reach the podium, but success came in all four disciplines. Janka began racing on the FIS European Cup circuit in January 2004. He earned his first two World Cup starts in December 2005, but did not finish either race. At the 2006 Junior World Championships in Mt. Ste. Anne, Quebec, Canada, he won the bronze medal in giant slalom, and he finished the 2007 season in fourth place in the overall Europa Cup standings.

Janka scored his first World Cup points in the giant slalom at Alta Badia, Italy, on 17 December, 2006, finishing in 20th place. But his World Cup breakthrough began two years later, on 29 November 2008, when he came out of the 65th starting position to finish a surprising second place in the downhill at Lake Louise. Two weeks later, on 13 December, he skied to his first World Cup victory in a giant slalom race at Val d'Isère, France, followed the next month by a victory in the Lauberhorn super-combined in Wengen. A month later, he won the gold medal in giant slalom and the bronze in downhill at the 2009 World Championships in Val d'Isère.