Anja Pärson

Anja Pärson

Anja Pärson
Medal record
Women's alpine skiing
Representing Sweden
Olympic Games
	2006 Turin	Slalom
	2002 Salt Lake	Giant slalom
	2002 Salt Lake	Slalom
	2006 Turin	Downhill
	2006 Turin	Combined
	2010 Vancouver	Combined
World Championships
	2007 Åre	Super-G
	2007 Åre	Combined
	2007 Åre	Downhill
	2005 Bormio	Super-G
	2005 Bormio	Giant slalom
	2003 St. Moritz	Giant slalom
	2001 St. Anton	Slalom
	2007 Åre	Team Event
	2005 Bormio	Combined
	2011 Garmisch	Combined
	2007 Åre	Slalom
	2001 St. Anton	Giant slalom

Anja Pärson in Aspen in 2006.

Anja Pärson in Monaco in 2006.

Anja Sofia Tess Pärson (Swedish pronunciation: [ˌanjaˈpæːʂɔn]; born 25 April 1981, in Umeå, Sweden) is a Swedish-Sámi alpine skier, the winner of seven World Championships gold medals and two Overall Alpine Skiing World Cup titles. She has won a total of 41 World cup races.

Biography

Pärson was introduced to ski racing by her sister, Frida, and is now trained by her father, Anders. Her first World Cup race was a giant slalom at the World Cup Finals at Crans-Montana, Switzerland (on 15 March 1998). She qualified for that race as the new junior World Champion but only finished 25th in last place. She won her first World Cup race, a slalom at Mammoth Mountain, California, in December 1998 at age 17, and her first gold medal at St. Anton, Austria, in 2001. She clinched the silver medal in the giant slalom and the bronze medal in the slalom at the 2002 Winter Olympics, and added the gold in slalom plus two more bronze medals in downhill and combined in 2006 Winter Olympics.

Pärson won the Alpine Skiing World Cup overall title in 2004 and 2005. The latter title was won by the smallest margin ever, only 3 points over her fierce rival, Janica Kostelić. Initially a slalom and giant slalom specialist, she won her first Super-G and downhill races in March 2005 at San Sicario, Italy, during the pre-Olympic competitions. As of January 2010, she has won a total of 41 World Cup races in all five disciplines.

Pärson has won seven gold medals in the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, in 2001 (slalom), 2003 (giant slalom), 2005 (giant slalom, Super-G) and 2007 (Super-G, Super-combined, downhill). These go along with two silver and two bronze medals in other events in 2001 and 2005. With her three gold medals in 2007 at Åre, Sweden, she became the first skier in history to win World Championship golds in all five disciplines.

Pärson has earned a total of 17 individual medals in World Championships and Olympics, exceeding the record by Christl Cranz in women's alpine skiing. (In men's alpine skiing it's only beaten by Kjetil André Aamodt, with 20.)

Pärson's athletics club is Fjällvinden, Tärnaby, the same to which skiing legend Ingemar Stenmark and Stig Strand belonged. She currently lives in Monaco. Her height is 170 cm (5 ft 7 in). She was awarded the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal in 2006 and in 2007.

After two disappointing seasons (2006/07 and 2007/08 where she finished fifth and sixth in the overall cup), she was back to her best over the 2008/09 season, finishing third in the overall cup.

With the victory in January 2010, she has won at least one race for nine consecutive World Cups, coming in this ranking only after Alberto Tomba for men and Vreni Schneider for women with eleven, and Renate Götschl for women and Ingemar Stenmark for men with ten.

At the 2010 Winter Olympics, while trying to chase down eventual downhill champion Lindsey Vonn of the United States, Anja Pärson lost balance on the last jump before the finish, resulting in a 60-metre flight and subsequent fall, without however suffering serious injury. She recovered from the fall and one day later won the bronze medal in the Combined event.

World Cup victories

Overall and single discipline results

Season	Discipline
2003	Giant Slalom
2004	Giant Slalom
2004	Slalom
2004	Overall
2005	Overall
2006	Giant Slalom
2009	Combined

Individual races

41 wins (18 Slalom, 11 Giant slalom, 4 Super-G, 5 Downhill, 3 Combined)

Date	Location	Race
3 December 1998	Mammoth Mountain	Slalom
9 December 2001	Sestrières	Slalom
29 December 2001	Lienz	Slalom
5 January 2002	Maribor	Slalom
6 January 2002	Maribor	Slalom
30 November 2002	Aspen	Slalom
15 December 2002	Sestrières	KO-Slalom
19 January 2003	Cortina d'Ampezzo	Giant slalom
25 January 2003	Maribor	Giant slalom
26 January 2003	Maribor	Slalom
6 March 2003	Åre	Giant slalom
28 November 2003	Park City	Giant slalom
29 November 2003	Park City	Slalom
16 December 2003	Madonna di Campiglio	Slalom
28 December 2003	Lienz	Slalom
5 January 2004	Megève	Slalom
24 January 2004	Maribor	Giant slalom
25 January 2004	Maribor	Slalom
7 February 2004	Zwiesel	Giant slalom
8 February 2004	Zwiesel	Slalom
21 February 2004	Åre	Giant slalom
14 March 2004	Sestrières	Giant slalom
23 November 2004	Sölden	Giant slalom
23 January 2005	Maribor	Slalom
25 February 2005	San Sicario	Super-G
26 February 2005	San Sicario	Downhill
11 December 2005	Aspen	Slalom
22 December 2005	Špindlerův Mlýn	Slalom
28 December 2005	Lienz	Giant Slalom
13 January 2006	Bad Kleinkirchheim	Downhill
27 January 2006	Cortina d'Ampezzo	Super-G
4 February 2006	Ofterschwang	Giant slalom
11 March 2006	Levi	Slalom
15 March 2006	Åre	Downhill
15 March 2007	Lenzerheide	Super-G
15 December 2007	St. Moritz	Downhill
16 December 2007	St. Moritz	Super-G
9 March 2008	Crans-Montana	Combined
19 December 2008	St. Moritz	Combined
18 January 2009	Altenmarkt-Zauchensee	Downhill
29 January 2010	St. Moritz	Combined

External links

• Anja Pärson - Official site
• Anja Pärson at the International Ski and Snowboard Federation

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