Erika HESS

Erika Hess (born March 6th, 1962 in Grafenort, Switzerland) was destined to be a great. Mother Nature put her on a pair of skis and the girl born in the Obwalden canton took her first sliding steps towards a stellar career. An enormous talent in the technical disciplines, the Swiss skier made her World Cup debut when she was only 15, finishing sixth in the Slalom event at Berchtesgaden, Germany, on January 25th, 1978. A year later she stepped on the podium for the first time, placing third in the Giant Slalom held at Val d'Isere.

Hess entered the 1980 Winter Olympic Games at Lake Placid and flew back home with the bronze medal claimed in the Slalom. She was the guiding light on the Swiss female team in the early 80's but failed to scale the highest step on the podium until January 13th, 1981, triumphing in the Slalom staged at Schruns, Austria. She enjoyed the taste of victory so much, it set her off on a sensational streak of six wins in a row between the narrow gates. Hess finished as runner up in the overall standings behind her teammate Marie-Therese Nadig, but was comforted with the Slalom title.

The ace from the Alps attended the 1982 FIS World Championships with high expectations and did not disappoint, destroying the field and snatching three gold medals in the Slalom, Giant Slalom and Combined event. She put the icing on the cake of an outstanding year's skiing by claiming her first overall World Cup at the end of 1981-1982 season.

The following season Hess struggled to repeat that outstanding form and although the Swiss star dominated the Slalom season again, she relinquished the crystal globe to the USA's Tamara McKinney. Four years later after her first Olympics, Hess headed to Sarajevo aiming to collect her first gold medal, but the Yugoslavian experience ended in misery. Hess finished a lowly 7th in the Giant Slalom and was surprisingly off the podium in the Slalom, a huge disappointment for her. However Hess made up for her Olympic failure by regaining the coveted crystal globe for the second time.

Whereas success at the premier Winter sports event remained out of reach for Hess, she was at ease in another prestigious tournament, the FIS World Championships. Her fourth career gold medal came in 1985 at Bormio in the combined event. Two years later the pressure was mounting on her before the home World Championships at Crans Montana and once again she coped marvellously, adding two more golds, in the Slalom and Combined races. On the World Cup front, Hess lost the all-Swiss duel against her teammate Maria Walliser by 45 points.

She hung up her skis and boots while still young, at the end of 1986-1987, when she was 25. Hess retired from competitive skiing having won two World Cups, six discipline titles. Her 21 Slalom wins out of 31 World Cup triumphs put her second in the Swiss ladies all-time winners list behind Vreni Schneider. As if that were not enough, she added six World Championship gold medals.