Anja Pärson

Anja Sofia Tess Pärson (pronounced|ˈaɲːa ˈpæːʂɔn in Swedish) (born 25 April 1981, in Umeå, Sweden) is a Swedish alpine skier, the winner of seven World Championships gold medals and two Overall Alpine Skiing World Cup titles. She is also the reigning Olympic champion in the slalom, after her victory at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.

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 (March 15, 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 fiercest rival, Janica Kostelić. Being 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 March 2008, she has won a total of 38 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's athletics club is Fjällvinden, Tärnaby, the same to which skiing legend Ingemar Stenmark and Stig Strand belonged. She currently lives in Monaco and stands 170 cm [cite news|url=http://www.svd.se/dynamiskt/sport/did_11777981.asp|date=2006-02-08|publisher=Svenska Dagbladet|title=The Swedish team for the 2006 Olympics] (5 ft 7 in) tall. She was awarded the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal in 2006 and in 2007.

World Cup victories

Overall and single discipline results

Individual races

38 wins (18 Slalom, 11 Giant slalom, 4 Super-G, 4 Downhill, 1 Combination)

References

External links

* [http://www.anjapaerson.com/eng/home/welcome.asp Anja Pärson] - Official site
*FIS|S=AL|ID=45786

Persondata
NAME=Pärson, Anja Sofia Tess
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Swedish Alpine skier
DATE OF BIRTH=25 April 1981
PLACE OF BIRTH=Umeå
DATE OF DEATH=living
PLACE OF DEATH=