Fastest Downhill Skiers of All Time

The fastest downhill skiers of all time have captured our imaginations as some of the most daring athletes we've ever seen.

There’s something about seeing someone fly down the side of a mountain at 80 miles per hour that just takes your breath away.

Such is the fate of a downhill skier, trying to be the fastest to get down that mountain and race their way into the hearts and minds of an international viewing audience every time the Winter Olympics rolls around. The skiers who come out on top at the Olympics become legends around the globe.

Here’s a look at the fastest downhill skiers of all time, with the only qualification being they have to have won at least one Olympic medal in their career. After all, the more Olympic medals, the more times a skier proved to be the fastest in their main event.

Honorable Mention: Lindsey Vonn

Marco Trovati / AP Photo

Born: Oct. 18, 1994 (St. Paul, Minnesota)

Events: Downhill, Super-G, Giant Slalom, Combined

Career: 2000-19

Career highlights: Olympic gold medal (2010), two-time Olympic bronze medalist (2010, 2018), two-time World Championships gold medalist (2009), three-time World Championships silver medalist (2007, 2011), three-time World Championships bronze medalist (2015, 2017, 2019)

Bottom line: One of the most famous skiers in the world, Lindsey Vonn shot to international fame in 2010 when she won gold and bronze medals at the Olympics. She added another bronze medal at the 2018 Olympics.

Vonn has been one of the most dominant World Cup racers of all time — male or female. She’s won four overall World Cup titles, including three consecutive from 2008 to 2010. But because she won fewer medals than we think she could have, due to injuries, we gave her an honorable mention on this list for her impressive career in the sport.

30. Ivica Kostelic

Darko Bandic / AP Photo

Born: Nov. 23, 1979 (Zagreb, Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia)

Events: Slalom, Combined, Super-G, Giant Slalom, Downhill

Career: 1998-2014

Career highlights: Four-time Olympic silver medalist (2006, 2010, 2014), World Championships gold medalist (2003), World Championships silver medalist (2013), World Championships bronze medalist (2011)

Bottom line: Ivica Kostelic came from a skiing family. He’s the older brother of fellow skiing champion Janica Kostelic, and the siblings were coached for the majority of their careers by their father, Ante Kostelic.

Ivica’s Olympic accomplishments, while stellar with three silver medals, pale in comparison to the four Olympic gold medals won by his younger sister. However, Ivica did eventually win an overall World Cup title in 2011.

29. Pernilla Wiberg

Diether Endlicher / AP Photo

Born: Oct. 15, 1970 (Norrkoping, Sweden)

Events: Downhill, Super G, Giant Slalom, Slalom, Combined

Career: 1990-2002

Career highlights: Two-time Olympic gold medalist (1992, 1994), Olympic silver medalist (1998), four-time World Championships gold medalist (1991, 1996, 1999), World Championships silver medalist (1999), World Championships bronze medalist (1997)

Bottom line: Pernilla Wiberg was a trailblazer in not just women’s downhill skiing but downhill skiing in general for Sweden. Her World Championships gold medal in the Giant Slalom 1991 was the first for a Scandinavian woman since 1958, and she was the top Olympian from Sweden in both 1992 and 1994 after she won gold medals each year.

Wiberg retired following surgery on both knees in 2002 and served an eight-year stint on the International Olympic Committee.

28. Rosi Mittermaier

Bavarian downhill skier Rosi Mittermaier

AP Photo

Born: Aug. 5, 1950 (Bavaria, West Germany)

Events: Downhill, Giant Slalom, Slalom, Combined

Career: 1967-76

Career highlights: Two-time Olympic gold medalist (1976), Olympic silver medalist (1976), World Championships gold medalist (1976)

Bottom line: Rosi Mittermaier set the skiing world on fire in 1976 — she won the gold medal at the World Championships followed by two gold medals and one silver medal at the Olympics. Nicknamed “Gold-Rosi” in her native Germany, her gold medal in the Downhill at the 1976 Olympics was the only international win in the event during her career.

Mittermaier is married to fellow pro skier Christian Neureuther, and their son, Felix Neureuther, is also a pro skier.

27. Stephan Eberharter

Susan Walsh / AP Photo

Born: March 24, 1969 (Brixlegg, Austria)

Events: Super-G, Giant Slalom, Downhill

Career: 1990-2004

Career highlights: Olympic gold medalist (2002), two-time Olympic silver medalist (1998, 2002), Olympic bronze medalist (2002), three-time World Championships gold medalist (1991, 2003), World Championships silver medalist (2001)

Bottom line: Stephan Eberharter spent the majority of his career in the shadow of fellow Austrian Hermann Maier — despite winning a pair of World Championships gold medals in 1991, he wasn’t able to win an Olympic gold medal until 2002.

The best stretch of Eberharter’s career actually came with Maier on the sideline (after he suffered a serious motorcycle accident in 2002) when Eberharter won back-to-back overall World Cup titles in 2002 and 2003 and won three of his four Olympic medals at the 2002 Olympics.

26. Marielle Goitschel

AP Photo

Born: Sept. 28, 1945 (Sainte-Maxime, France)

Events: Downhill, Slalom

Career: 1962-68

Career highlights: Two-time Olympic gold medalist (1964), Olympic silver medalist (1964), seven-time World Championships gold medalist (1962, 1964, 1966, 1968), four-time World Championships silver medalist (1962, 1964, 1966, 1968)

Bottom line: The 1964 Olympics were pretty sweet for the Goitschel family — Marielle Goitschel and older sister Christine Goitschel both won gold medals in alpine skiing.

The Slalom event at the 1964 Olympics made history for the two as it was the first time siblings were on the same event podium together, with Christine winning the gold and Marielle winning the silver, and the roles reversed in the Giant Slalom. Marielle would return in 1968 to win the Olympic gold medal in the Slalom.

Marielle also won seven World Championships gold medals in her career.

25. Michaela Dorfmeister

Andrew Medichini / AP Photo

Born: March 25, 1973 (Vienna, Austria)

Events: Downhill, Super-G, Giant Slalom, Combined

Career: 1991-2006

Career highlights: Two-time Olympic gold medalist (2006), Olympic silver medalist (1998), two-time World Championships gold medalist (2001, 2003), World Championships silver medalist (1999), World Championships bronze medalist (1999)

Bottom line: Michaela Dorfmeister was the daughter of a butcher in Vienna who was racing in international ski competitions by the time she was 10 years old and racing in her first World Cup competition by the time she was 17.

Dorfmeister won the overall World Cup title in 2002 and had the biggest moment of her career four years later at the 2006 Olympics when she won gold medals in the Downhill and Super-G.

24. Mikaela Schiffrin

Mikaela Schiffrin is an accomplished ski racer

Alessandro Trovati / AP Photo

Born: March 13, 1995 (Vail, Colorado)

Events: Slalom, Giant Slalom, Super-G, Downhill, Combined

Career: 2011-present

Career highlights: Two-time Olympic gold medalist (2014, 2018), Olympic silver medalist (2018), six-time World Championships gold medalist (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2019, 2021), two-time World Championships silver medalist (2017, 2021), three-time World Championships bronze medalist (2019, 2021)

Bottom line: Colorado native Mikaela Schiffrin has been the face of skiing in the United States for the last decade — since winning her first gold medal in the Slalom in the 2014 Olympics then following that with a gold medal in the Giant Slalom in the 2018 Olympics.

Schiffrin also won a silver medal at the 2018 Olympics and is a five-time World Championships gold medalist. By winning a gold medal in the Slalom at the 2019 World Championships, she became the first skier to win gold in a single event in four consecutive World Championships.

23. Henri Oreiller

AP Photo

Born: Dec. 5, 1925 (Paris, France)

Died: Oct. 7, 1962, 36 years old (Paris, France)

Events: Downhill, Giant Slalom, Slalom, Combined

Career: 1947-52

Career highlights: Two-time Olympic gold medalist (1948), Olympic bronze medalist (1948)

Bottom line: Henri Oreiller was the top dog at the 1948 Olympics, where the Paris native won two Olympic gold medals and a bronze medal to put him on top of the world in alpine skiing. Oreiller famously missed one of his gold medal ceremonies in 1948 because he’d already taken off to go party at a local bar, where officials found him playing the accordion.

Oreiller left skiing to race cars professionally in 1952. As fate would have it, he died racing cars in 1962 at 36 years old. The 1962 Ferrari GTO he was driving in the crash that led to his death was refurbished and sold for a whopping $38 million at auction in 2018.

22. Ted Ligety

Marco Trovati / AP Photo

Born: Aug. 31, 1997 (Salt Lake City, Utah)

Events: Giant Slalom, Super-G, Slalom, Combined

Career: 2003-21

Career highlights: Two-time Olympic gold medalist (2006, 2014), five-time World Championships gold medal (2011, 2013, 2015), two-time World Championships bronze medalist (2009, 2015)

Bottom line: Utah native Ted Ligety competed for the United States in four consecutive Olympics— 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018 — winning gold medals in 2006 and 2014.

Ligety had one of the longest careers of any skier on this list, which included five gold medals at the World Championships, with the most surprising coming in the Combined in 2013.

He retired in 2021 at 36 years old.

21. Hanni Wenzel

AP Photo

Born: Dec. 14, 1956 (Bavaria, West Germany)

Events: Giant Slalom, Slalom, Combined, Downhill, Super G

Career: 1972-84

Career highlights: Two-time Olympic gold medalist (1980), Olympic silver medalist (1980), Olympic bronze medalist (1976), two-time World Championships gold medalist (1974, 1980), two-time World Championships silver medalist (1974, 1978), World Championships bronze medalist (1976)

Bottom line: Hanni Wenzel made history as the first Olympic gold medalist from Liechtenstein when she won a bronze medal at the 1976 Olympics. She added a pair of golds and a silver in alpine skiing at the 1980 Olympics.

Wenzel’s crowning achievement at the 1980 Olympics capped off the greatest stretch of her career, which included an overall World Cup title in 1978. Wenzel was one of two double Olympic gold medalists from 1980 banned from the 1984 Olympics alongside Ingemar Stenmark after the two took money directly from a sponsor instead of through their national federations.

20. Tina Maze

Matthias Schrader / AP Photo

Born: May 2, 1983 (Slovenia, SFR Yugoslavia)

Events: Downhill, Super-G, Giant Slalom, Slalom, Combined

Career: 1999-2017

Career highlights: Two-time Olympic gold medalist (2014), two-time Olympic silver medalist (2010), four-time World Championships gold medalist (2011, 2013, 2015), five-time World Championships silver medalist (2009, 2011, 2013, 2015)

Bottom line: Until NBA star Luka Doncic came onto the scene a few years ago, Tina Maze was pretty much carrying the flag for Slovenian athletes on the international stage as a two-time Olympic gold medalist.

Maze is a five-time Slovenian Sportswoman of the Year and also owns two more silver medals at the Olympics. She’s been a four-time World Championships gold medal winner and won a World Cup overall title in 2013.

19. Maria Hofl-Riesch

Alessandro Trovati / AP Photo

Born: Nov. 24, 1984 (Bavaria, West Germany)

Events: Downhill, Super-G, Slalom, Combined, Giant Slalom

Career: 2001-14

Career highlights: Three-time Olympic gold medalist (2010, 2014), Olympic silver medalist (2014), two-time World Championships gold medalist (2009, 2013), four-time World Championships bronze medalist (2011, 2013)

Bottom line: Maria Hofl-Riesch is a three-time Olympic gold medalist, including back-to-back gold medals in the Combined in 2010 and 2014. She also added a silver medal in 2014.

Hofl-Riesch is almost 6-foot tall, making her one of the tallest elite women’s skiers in the world who also won a pair of gold medals at the World Championships in 2009.

She has also been a nationally ranked tennis player and cyclist in Germany.

18. Deborah Compagnoni

Claudio Scaccnoni / AP Photo

Born: June 4, 1970 (Bormio, Italy)

Events: Super-G, Giant Slalom, Slalom

Career: 1986-99

Career highlights: Three-time Olympic gold medalist (1992, 1994, 1998), Olympic silver medalist (1998), three-time World Championships gold medalist (1996, 1997)

Bottom line: Few skiers on this list can compare to the consistency Italian skier Deborah Compagnoni displayed during her career — she won gold medals at three different, consecutive Olympics. Even more impressive for Compagnoni was that she was rarely able to train as much as her competitors because of her ailing knees. In 1998, she actually won a silver medal as well.

Compagnoni also won three World Championships gold medals in 1996 and 1997. She has been married to billionaire fashion scion Alessandro Benetton of the Benetton fashion empire for 20 years.

17. Benjamin Raich

Susan Walsh / AP Photo

Born: Fe. 28, 1978 (Arzl im Pitztal, Tyrol, Austria)

Events: Slalom, Giant Slalom, Combined, Super-G, Downhill

Career: 1996-2015

Career highlights: Two-time Olympic gold medalist (2006), two-time Olympic bronze medalist (2002), three-time World Championships gold medalist (2005, 2007), six-time World Championships silver medalist (2001, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011), World Championships bronze medalist (2005)

Bottom line: Benjamin Raich is an interesting study of an alpine skier who got better with age — he went pro in 1996 but didn’t win his first World Championships gold medal until 2005 and didn’t win his first Olympic gold medal until 2006, when he won two in Turin, Italy.

Raich came close to winning back-to-back overall World Cup titles — he lost to Bode Miller by the skin of his teeth in 2005 before winning it all in 2006.

He’s married to fellow Olympic medalist Marlies Schild.

16. Anja Parson

sportsfan_pl / Twitter

Born: April 25, 1981 (Umea, Sweden)

Events: Downhill, Super-G, Slalom, Combined, Giant Slalom

Career: 1998-2012

Career highlights: Olympic gold medalist (2006), Olympic silver medalist (2002), four-time Olympic bronze medalist (2002, 2006, 2010), seven-time World Championships gold medalist (2001, 2003, 2005, 2007), two-time World Championships silver medalist (2005, 2007), four-time World Championships bronze medalist (2001, 2007, 2011)

Bottom line: Anja Parson owns six Olympic medals, including a gold in the Slalom in 2006, but she’s best known for a spectacular crash.

In the 2010 Olympics, while trying to track down American Lindsay Vonn’s time in the Downhill finals, Parson lost her balance on the final jump and soared almost 200 feet before skidding across the ice and snow and smashing through several markers.

Parson, proving she is tougher than almost anyone who ever skied, won a bronze medal one day later.

15. Franz Klammer

AP Photo

Born: Dec. 3, 1958 (Mooswald, Carinthia, Austria)

Events: Downhill, Giant Slalom, Combined

Career: 1972-85

Career highlights: Olympic gold medalist (1976), two-time World Championships gold medalist (1974, 1976), World Championships silver medalist (1974)

Bottom line: Franz Klammer doesn’t have the same high-profile wins as other skiers who made the list, but his career can’t be overlooked thanks to 26 career World Cup wins.

Like so many parts of Klammer’s career, those World Cup wins come with a caveat — he never won an overall World Cup title.

Klammer, if anything, is the people’s champ when it comes to alpine skiing, though — American Bode Miller cited him as the inspiration for his skiing style.

14. Kjetil Lansrud

Charles Krupa / AP Photo

Born: Aug. 28, 1985 (Stavanger, Norway)

Events: Downhill, Super-G, Giant Slalom, Combined

Career: 2003-present

Career highlights: Olympic gold medalist (2014), two-time Olympic silver medalist (2010, 2018), two-time Olympic bronze medalist (2014, 2018), World Championships gold medalist (2019), two-time World Championships silver medalist (2015, 2017)

Bottom line: It was impossible to question Kjetil Lansrud’s toughness after the 2013 World Championships — he crashed in the first event, the Super-G, but still finished the race with a torn knee ligament that ended his season.

Lansrud, who’d already won a silver medal at the 2010 Olympics, bounced back to have the greatest moment of his career in 2014 when he won a gold medal in the Super-G, along with a bronze in Downhill.

13. Katja Seizinger

Diether Endlicher / AP Photo

Born: May 10, 1972 (Datteln, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany)

Events: Downhill, Super-G, Giant Slalom, Slalom, Combined

Career: 1989-99

Career highlights: Three-time Olympic gold medalist (1994, 1998), two-time Olympic bronze medalist (1992, 1998), World Championships gold medalist (1993), three-time World Championships silver medalist (1996, 1997)

Bottom line: The most successful alpine skier in German history is Katja Seizinger, who won five total Olympic medals, including three gold medals. Seizinger won two of those golds at the 1998 Olympics when she became the first woman to win back-to-back gold medals in an alpine skiing speed event.

Seizinger injured both of her knees training later in 1998 and retired shortly after. She also won two overall World Cup titles.

12. Aksel Lund Svindal

Gero Breloer / AP Photo

Born: Dec. 26, 1982 (Lorenskog, Norway)

Events: Downhill, Super-G, Giant Slalom, Combined

Career: 2001-19

Career highlights: Two-time Olympic gold medalist (2010, 2018), Olympic silver medalist (2010), Olympic bronze medalist (2010), five-time World Championships gold medalist (2007, 2009, 2011 2013), two-time World Championships silver medalist (2005, 2019), two-time World Championships bronze medalist (2009, 2013)

Bottom line: Aksel Lund Svindal became the first alpine male skier to win a gold medal at four consecutive World Championships — he also won two overall World Cup championships.

The debate over Norway’s greatest skier comes down to Svindal and Kjetil Andre Aamoot, and while Svindal has a much more impressive overall resume in international competition, Aamoot’s upper hand in Olympic competition seems to always hold the day — pretty amazing considering Svindal four Olympic medals of his own, including two golds.

11. Toni Sailer

AP Photo

Born: Nov. 17, 1935 (Kitzbuhel, Tyrol, Austria)

Died: Aug. 24, 2009, 73 years old (Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria)

Events: Downhill, Giant Slalom, Slalom, Combined

Career: 1952-59

Career highlights: Three-time Olympic gold medalist (1956), seven-time World Championships gold medalist (1956, 1958), World Championships silver medalist (1958)

Bottom line: Austrian skier Toni Sailer was nicknamed “The Blitz from Kitz” after his hometown of Kitzbuhel. And he became a national hero after winning three Olympic gold medals in 1956 when he was just 20 years old.

Sailer, who is still the youngest male in history to win Olympic gold, turned his skiing fame into a decades-long career as an actor, pitchman and musician — he played himself in raunchy Italian ski comedies and recorded a staggering 18 albums.

Sailer died of cancer in 2008 at 73 years old.

10. Marcel Hirscher

Nathan Bilow / AP Photo

Born: March 2, 1989 (Hallein, Salzburg, Austria)

Events: Slalom, Giant Slalom, Super-G, Combined

Career: 2007-19

Career highlights: Two-time Olympic gold medalist (2018), Olympic silver medalist (2014), seven-time World Championships gold medalist (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019), four-time World Championships silver medalist (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019)

Bottom line: Marcel Hirscher set a record with eight consecutive World Cup overall titles from 2012 to 2019 and won two Olympic gold medals in 2018 when he finally shook off the title of “greatest alpine skier without a gold medal.”

Hirscher’s 67 World Cup wins are second on the career list for male skiers. He just missed earning another Olympic medal in 2010 at his first Olympics where he finished fourth in the giant slalom.

In 2019, Hirscher tied fellow Austrian Toni Sailer with his record seventh gold medal at the World Championships.

9. Lasse Kjus

Thomas Kienzle / AP Photo

Born: Jan. 14, 1971 (Oslo, Norway)

Events: Downhill, Super-G, Giant Slalom, Slalom, Combined

Career: 1990-2006

Career highlights: Olympic gold medalist (1994), three-time Olympic silver medalist (1998, 2002), Olympic bronze medalist (2002), three-time World Championships gold medalist (1993, 1999), eight-time World Championships silver medalist (1996, 1997, 1999, 2003)

Bottom line: Lasse Kjus won two overall World Cup championships against just one Olympic gold medal. Kjus actually won five Olympic medals across three consecutive Olympics, but we don’t usually hear his name mentioned among the greats because of the lack of multiple Olympic golds.

That’s too bad because Kjus owns one of the more incredible records in alpine skiing history — he’s the only skier, ever, to medal in all five alpine skiing disciplines at a single World Championships. In 1999, Kjus medaled in Downhill, Super-G, Slalom, Giant Slalom and Combined in Vail, Colorado.

8. Vreni Schneider

Dieter Endlicher / AP Photo

Born: Nov. 26, 1964 (Elm, Switzerland)

Events: Slalom, Giant Slalom, Combined

Career: 1984-95

Career highlights: Three-time Olympic gold medalist (1988, 1994), Olympic silver medalist (1994), Olympic bronze medalist (1994), three-time World Championships gold medalist (1987, 1989, 1991), two-time World Championships silver medalist (1989), World Championships bronze medalist (1991)

Bottom line: One of the most popular athletes in Swedish history, Vreni Schneider was the daughter of a shoemaker who lost her mother to cancer at a young age before rising up to become one of the world’s greatest skiers.

Schneider won two Olympic gold medals in 1988 and another in 1994 when she also won a silver and a bronze. With gold medals in three different World Championships, Schneider was named Swiss Sportswoman of the Century.

7. Ingemar Stenmark

AP Photo

Born: March 18, 1956 (Joesjo, Sweden)

Events: Slalom, Giant Slalom

Career: 1974-89

Career highlights: Two-time Olympic gold medalist (1980), Olympic bronze medalist (1976), three-time World Championships gold medalist (1978, 1982), World Championships silver medalist (1982)

Bottom line: Ingemar Stenmark won a record 86 World Cup championships over his career after making his professional debut in 1973 at just 17 years old.

Stenmark’s career was most notable for his laser focus on two events, the Slalom and Giant Slalom, and that focus paid off when he swept both events at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.

Stenmark’s career would have looked much different had he not been banned from the 1984 Olympics for taking money directly from a sponsor instead of through his national federation — he returned to the Olympics in 1988 but was past his prime.

6. Jean-Claude Killy

Jean-Claude Killy speeding down the ski slope

AP Photo

Born: Aug. 30 ,1943 (Seine-et-Oise, France)

Events: Downhill, Giant Slalom, Slalom, Combined

Career: 1967-76

Career highlights: Three-time Olympic gold medalist (1968), six-time World Championships gold medalist (1966, 1968)

Bottom line: French alpine skier Jean-Claude Killy was the dominant figure in his sport in the 1960s, winning at the first two World Cup championships in 1967 and 1968 and knocking off three Olympic gold medals at the 1968 Olympics.

Killy was known for his recklessness on the course in the early 1960s, from when he dropped out of high school to make the French junior national team to a disastrous showing at the 1964 Olympics. Killy returned triumphantly to dominate in 1968 with three Olympic gold medals plus four more World Championships gold medals.

5. Bode Miller

Frank Gunn / AP Photo

Born: Oct. 12, 1977 (Easton, New Hampshire)

Events: Downhill, Super-G, Giant Slalom, Slalom, Combined

Career: 1997-2017

Career highlights: Olympic gold medalist (2010), three-time Olympic silver medalist (2002, 2010), two-time Olympic bronze medalist (2010, 2014), four-time World Championships gold medalist (2003, 2005), World Championships silver medalist (2003)

Bottom line: The most famous Olympic skier from the United States of all time, hands down, New Hampshire native Bode Miller became a pop-culture staple throughout his 20-year career — for his successes as much as for his failures.

Miller’s six Olympic medals are the most for any skier in U.S. history, but he’s known as much for the time he didn’t medal in the Olympics when he was favored to medal in as many as five events in 2006 but came away empty-handed.

4. Janica Kostelic

Susan Walsh / AP Photo

Born: Jan. 5, 1982 (Zagreb, Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia)

Events: Slalom, Giant Slalom, Super-G, Downhill, Combined

Career: 1998-2007

Career highlights: Four-time Olympic gold medalist (2002, 2006), two-time Olympic silver medalist (2002, 2006), five-time World Championships gold medalist (2003, 2005)

Bottom line: Janica Kostelic and older brother Ivica Kostelic both became world champions under the watchful eye of their coach and father, Ante Kostelic.

Janica truly touched greatness at the Winter Olympics, becoming the only woman to win four gold medals in alpine skiing. She’s also the only woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympics, which she did in 2002.

3. Hermann Maier

Luca Bruno / AP Photo

Born: Dec. 7, 1972 (Altenmarkt im Pongau, Salzburg, Austria)

Events: Downhill, Super-G, Giant Slalom, Combined

Career: 1996-2009

Career highlights: Two-time Olympic gold medalist (1998), Olympic silver medalist (2006), Olympic bronze medalist (2006), three-time World Championships gold medalist (1999, 2005), two-time World Championships silver medalist (2001, 2003), World Championships bronze medalist (2001)

Bottom line: Few skiers in history have risen to the level of international fame as Austria’s Hermann Maier. It was quite a turnaround from the teenager who was told by the top Austrian skiing academies that he had too slight a build to compete on a high level.

Maier became a grass-roots skiing star in Austria and achieved fame at a relatively old age compared to most of the skiers on this list. He was 27 years old when he won his first world championship and became a global sensation in 1998 when he was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, following two gold medals and a “can-you-believe-he-lived” crash at the 1998 Olympics.

2. Alberto Tomba

Alberto Tomba was one of the fastest downhill skiers in the world

Armando Trovati / AP Photo

Born: Dec. 19, 1966 (San Lazzaro di Savena, Emilia-Romagna, Italy)

Events: Slalom, Giant Slalom, Super-G

Career: 1985-98

Career highlights: Three-time Olympic gold medalist (1988, 1992), two-time Olympic silver medalist (1992, 1994), two-time World Championships gold medalist (1996), two-time World Championships bronze medalist (1987, 1997)

Bottom line: Alongside Austrian Herman Maier, Italy’s Alberto Tomba is arguably the most famous skier who ever lived.

Tomba skyrocketed to international fame at the 1988 Olympics when he won gold medals in the Slalom and Giant Slalom and earned the nickname “Tomba La Bomba” (“Tomba the Bomb”) for his, um, exuberant love of life on and off the course.

Tomba won another gold at the 1992 Olympics and skied professionally until 1998 when he competed in his fourth consecutive Olympics.

1. Kjetil Andre Aamoot

Kjetil Andre Aamoot was crazy fast on skis

Alessandro Trovati / AP Photo

Born: Sept. 2, 1971 (Oslo, Norway)

Events: Downhill, Super-G, Giant Slalom, Slalom, Combined

Career: 1988-2007

Career highlights: Four-time Olympic gold medalist (1992, 2002, 2006), two-time Olympic silver medalist (1994), two-time Olympic bronze medalist (1992, 1994), five-time World Championships gold medalist (1993, 1997, 1999. 2001), four-time World Championships silver medalist (1991, 1993, 2001 2003), three-time World Championships bronze medalist (1996, 1999, 2003)

Bottom line: Kjetil Andre Aamoot is the only alpine skier to win eight Olympic medals, including four gold medals over the span of 14 years — taking it all at the 1992, 2002 and 2006 games. He is also the only alpine skier to win four Olympic gold medals.

Aamoot won the overall World Cup title in 1994 and is one of just a handful of alpine skiers to win World Championships in five different events.