Didier CUCHE
Aug 31, 2018·Alpine Skiing
Didier Cuche (born August 16, 1974 in Le Pâquier, Neuchâtel) is a Swiss alpine skier. He is generally known for being a superb specialist in the high speed disciplines like the Downhill and Super-G. He made his WC debut at the age of 19 in the Downhill World Cup competition at Bormio and collected the first WC points in 1995, finishing 21st in the prestigious downhill race held in Val Gardena. Cuche made his first podium in 1998, triumphing in the famous DH race in Kitzbuhel and carried out another great performance in the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, where he won the silver medal in Super-G, finishing with the exact same time as + Hans Knauss resulting in a rare sharing of the medal.
Cuche didn't win a WC event from January 1998 (DH in Kitzbuhel) to the same month of 2002 eventually breaking the drought on the home soil of Adelboden, overtaking the field in the prestigious GS.
The Swiss speed specialist has amassed 9 World Cup wins, plus numerous other top three results. He clinched back-to-back downhill titles in the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 seasons and nearly won the Super-G World Cup finishing second by just one point behind Austria's Hannes Reichelt after the final event in Bormio. He finished third in the Overall standings that season. He also grabbed a giant slalom title in the 2009 season, a sturdy reminder that he was still a fine all-rounder at the tender age of 34.
He won a sole medal at the World Championships of 2007 conquering the bronze in the Giant Slalom at Are. The Woeld Championships of 2009, though, proved to be more fruitful as Cuche raced down the 'Face de Belvarde' slope to clock the fastest time in the superG and was just narrowly beaten by Kucera in the downhill. A lifetime dream was finally complete and he now hold a full collection of medals.
In the Bormio Downhill on December 28, 2006 he finished second, 0.01 seconds behind winner Michael Walchhofer, one of the smallest measurable margins in professional skiing.
Cuche has suffered many heavy and serious injuries during his career, breaking legs in 1990, 1993, 1995, 1996 and having surgery on both knees. Nicknamed the 'Butcher', because that is his parents profession Cuche also likes Music, Cinema, Golf and Motorcycling and practicing golf in his free time.
