Anja Pärson biography
Anja Pärson, (born April 25, 1981, Umeå, Sweden), Swedish skier who in 2007 grew to become the primary individual to win world championship races in every of the 5 disciplines of Alpine ski racing.
Pärson was coached by her father on the similar ski membership in tiny Tärnaby, Sweden, that had produced Ingemar Stenmark, who throughout his profession (1973–89) received extra races than every other skier in historical past. Pärson idolized Stenmark and from a younger age was in comparison with him, in addition to to Pernilla Wiberg, whose 9 Olympic and world championship medals within the Nineteen Nineties had made her Sweden’s most profitable lady skier. By 2007, nevertheless, Pärson had surpassed Wiberg by amassing a mixed 16 medals within the Olympics and the world championships.
Pärson flashed hints of Wiberg-like greatness in 1998 at age 17 when she received her first World Cup race, the slalom, at Mammoth Mountain, California. In 2000 she secured the gold within the slalom and the enormous slalom (GS) on the world juniors championships. The following yr she made an auspicious debut on the world championships in Austria, starting her assault on the 5 disciplines with a gold within the slalom and a bronze within the GS.
Pärson competed in her first Olympics on the 2002 Salt Lake City (Utah) Winter Games, the place she took the silver medal within the GS and the bronze within the slalom. She triumphed within the GS on the 2003 world championships, held in Saint Moritz, Switzerland, earlier than embarking on a two-year run of World Cup general titles in 2003–04 and 2004–05. At the 2005 world championships in Bormio, Italy, Pärson received in a 3rd self-discipline, the supergiant slalom (tremendous G), whereas including one other gold within the GS.
Pärson entered the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy, with excessive expectations however had considerably disappointing finishes in her first occasions, incomes bronze medals within the mixed and the downhill. She got here again to take the gold within the slalom, nevertheless, and afterward carried out a sprawling belly-flop slide that she known as “the walrus”; it grew to become her signature victory celebration. At the 2007 world championships in Åre, Sweden, Pärson—regardless of having had knee surgical procedure after the 2005–06 season—claimed the gold within the tremendous G for the second time in her profession. Next, she received the mixed, which gave her victories in 4 of the 5 disciplines. Two days later, capping off a tremendous streak, she received the downhill to finish her historic sweep. Four different skiers beforehand had received in 4 of the 5 disciplines, however Pärson stood alone along with her world championship triumphs within the slalom, GS, tremendous G, mixed, and downhill. She completed the 2008 season in sixth place within the general World Cup standings, having reached the victory podium in simply 5 of her 35 begins. At the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, Pärson received a bronze medal within the tremendous mixed. She retired from aggressive snowboarding following the 2012 World Cup with 42 profession World Cup race wins to her title.