Athlete Bios: Skiing Downhill & Super-G

Kristian Ghedina (ITA)
Birthday: 11/20/69
Home Base: Cortina, Italy
Sponsors: Fischer, Lange, Marker

Ghedina is ranked 11th in the current overall World Cup standings upon heading to Nagano. Like teammate Alberto Tomba, he is a seasoned veteran who has proven himself under pressure. Although the Austrians are strong in downhill, it was Ghedina who skied neck-and-neck with retired downhill champ Luc Alphand (FRA) last year, placing second in the downhill standings and fifth in Super G.

Ghedina christened the 1997/98 season by winning opening downhill on the brand new Birds of Prey course in Beaver Creek. [Check out our cybercast of the event]

"It's great to win the first downhill of the season. It's great for my confidence going into the rest of the season," said Ghedina of his performance.

Ghedina was also the first Italian to win this year's famous Hahnenkamm Downhill race in Kitzbuhel, Austria, in a weekend where ironically only one Austrian skier showed up on the podium in third place for the historic Austrian race on The Streif.