Didier Cuche

Medal record
Competitor for Switzerland
Men's Alpine Skiing
Olympic Games
World Championships

Didier Cuche
Didier Cuche
	; Cuche in February 2011
Personal information
Full name	Didier Cuche
Born	August 16, 1974 (age 37); Le Pâquier, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Professional information
Club	Chasseral Dombresson
Skis	Head
World Cup
Seasons	1993 – 2012
Wins	22
Additional podiums	45
Total podiums	67
	Updated on 25 February 2012.

Didier Cuche (born August 16, 1974) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Switzerland. Born in Le Pâquier, Neuchâtel, he primarily competed in the speed disciplines of downhill and Super G, along with the technical discipline of giant slalom. He won the World Cup downhill and Super-G title for the 2011 season and has won three previous downhill titles in 2010, 2008 and 2007, along with a giant slalom title in 2009. Cuche has 21 World Cup race victories, along with 67 podiums (top three) and 181 top ten finishes.¹ He is also an Olympic silver medalist and has won a total of four World Championships medals (a gold, two silvers, and a bronze). He retired from competition following the 2012 season.

Career highlights

At the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, Cuche was the silver medalist in the Super G, where he had exactly the same time as Hans Knauss resulting in a rare sharing of the medal (no bronze medal was awarded).

Cuche switched from Atomic to Head skis following the 2006 season, joining Bode Miller and Hermann Maier.

During the 2007 season, Cuche was in top form, winning the downhill season title with a victory and four second place finishes. In the Bormio downhill on December 28, 2006, he finished second, 0.01 seconds behind winner Michael Walchhofer, the smallest measurable amount in ski racing.

Cuche repeated as the World Cup downhill season champion in 2008 with 584 points, five ahead of overall champion Bode Miller. Cuche finished third overall and nearly won the Super-G season title, finishing a single point behind champion Hannes Reichelt.²

At the 2009 World Championships in Val d'Isère, France, Cuche won the Super-G and was the silver medalist in the downhill.

A week after winning the Super-G and downhill at Kitzbühel in 2010, Cuche broke his right thumb in the giant slalom at Kranjska Gora, Slovenia on January 29, two weeks before the 2010 Winter Olympics.³ The injury put Cuche's Olympic participation in doubt, and he was immediately flown to Switzerland. After successful thumb surgery, he was cleared to compete in the Olympics in Canada.⁴ Cuche had a disappointing Olympics and did not win any medal; however, he regained the title of World Cup downhill champion for the 2010 season at the first post-Olympic race. Cuche won the downhill on the challenging Olympiabakken course at Kvitfjell, Norway, on March 6 for his fifth World Cup victory of the season. Until 2010, Cuche had never won more than two World Cup events in a single season.

On January 22, 2011, Cuche became the oldest race winner in the history of the World Cup, winning the Hahnenkamm downhill in Kitzbühel at the age of &1000000000000003600000036 years, &10000000000000159000000159 days.⁵ It was also his fourth downhill victory in Kitzbühel, which tied him with Franz Klammer for the record on the Hahnenkamm, which is generally considered the most difficult and dangerous of all downhill courses. He has since added a fifth victory in Kitzbühel to his tally, thus becoming the sole record holder⁶; Klammer was there to congratulate him at the finish.

At the 2011 World Championships in February, he won the silver medal in the downhill. In March he won the World Cup downhill championship for the 2011 season. This marked the fourth time he captured the season title (2011, 2010, 2008, 2007), a record only surpassed by Franz Klammer who won the title five times. He ended the 2011 World Cup season in first place ranking in Downhill and Super-G, finishing second in the Overall rankings to Ivica Kostelić.

Cuche in 2010

After considerable speculation as to whether Cuche might instead retire, he opened the 2012 World Cup season by winning the downhill race at Lake Louise, Canada,⁷ further extending the age record he had last broken at &1000000000000003600000036 years, &10000000000000209000000209 days in a Super-G at Kvitfjell in March 2011. That record was extended yet again at Kitzbühel in January 2012 to &1000000000000003700000037 years, &10000000000000158000000158 days.

On January 19, 2012, Cuche announced his retirement for the end of the 2012 season.⁸ He gave his retirement speech in Kitzbühel during which he stated that he wanted to “leave the World Cup stage on a high”.⁹ Only two days later, Cuche won the Hahnenkamm race in Kitzbühel for the fifth time in his career, including his very first World Cup win in 1998.⁶ The following week, Cuche won the downhill at Garmisch, Germany, for his twentieth World Cup victory.

Besides his remarkable durability and his broad popularity, Cuche is well known for a post-race signature move in which he kicks out of, spins and catches one of his skis in a quick, fluid motion - and perhaps giving it a ceremonial kiss.

Other Awards

Cuche won the Swiss Sports Personality of the Year in 2009 and 2011. In January 2012 during the "Swiss Awards" he won the Swiss Person of the Year award in 2011.

World Cup results

Season standings

Season	Age	Overall	Slalom	Giant Slalom	Super G	Downhill	Combined
1996	21	92	—	—	47	40	—
1997	22
1998	23	8	—	—	6	4	11
1999	24	15	—	30	13	13	4
2000	25	12	—	12	9	11	17
2001	26	10	—	20	6	13	—
2002	27	3	—	4	2	14	—
2003	28	5	—	20	3	9	—
2004	29	13	—	24	10	9	10
2005	30	17	—	11	27	21	—
2006	31	34	—	24	28	18	—
2007	32	3	—	7	2	1	34
2008	33	3	—	4	2	1	23
2009	34	3	—	1	7	7	30
2010	35	3	—	9	8	1	27
2011	36	2	—	9	1	1	—
2012	37	6	—	30	2	3	—

Season titles

6 season titles: 4 downhill, 1 Super-G, 1 giant slalom

Season	Discipline
2007	Downhill
2008	Downhill
2009	Giant Slalom
2010	Downhill
2011	Downhill
2011	Super-G

Individual races

21 wins: (12 downhill, 6 super G, 3 giant slalom)

Season	Date	Location	Discipline
1998	23 Jan 1998	Kitzbühel, Austria	Downhill
2002	5 Jan 2002	Adelboden, Switzerland	Giant Slalom
2002	7 Mar 2002	Altenmarkt, Austria	Super-G
2003	8 Dec 2002	Beaver Creek, USA	Super-G
2004	30 Jan 2004	Garmisch, Germany	Downhill
2007	10 Mar 2007	Kvitfjell, Norway	Downhill
2008	14 Dec 2007	Val Gardena, Italy	Super-G
2008	19 Jan 2008	Kitzbühel, Austria	Downhill
2009
2009	21 Feb 2009	Sestriere, Italy	Giant Slalom
2010	25 Oct 2009	Sölden, Austria	Giant Slalom
	28 Nov 2009	Lake Louise, Canada	Downhill
	22 Jan 2010	Kitzbühel, Austria	Super-G
	23 Jan 2010	Kitzbühel, Austria	Downhill
	6 Mar 2010	Kvitfjell, Norway	Downhill
2011	22 Jan 2011	Kitzbühel, Austria	Downhill
	29 Jan 2011	Chamonix, France	Downhill
	13 Mar 2011	Kvitfjell, Norway	Super-G
2012	26 Nov 2011	Lake Louise, Canada	Downhill
	21 Jan 2012	Kitzbühel, Austria	Downhill
	28 Jan 2012	Garmisch, Germany	Downhill
	24 Feb 2012	Crans-Montana, Switzerland	Super-G