Best All Time Skier

The sport of skiing is a wide, diverse and thrilling sport. There are many different types of skiing including alpine, cross-country, ski jumping, speed skiing, nordic combined and freestyle skiing. All these forms are classified as Olympic sports.

But, when you think of skiing in it’s most traditional, popular form, that is Alpine Skiing. Every year the FIS Alpine World Ski Championship is held. In 2009 it took place in France, in Val d’Isère. The medal winners were led by Switzerland with six medals in total. Austria followed with five medals and the United States won three of them. At the Olympic Winter Games in 2006 in Turin, Germany took home the most medals 29 medals, followed by the United States with 25 and Austria with 23 medals.

In the 2010 Winter Olympic games in Vancouver, BC, Canada the best skiers in the world will challenge each other for the title of best skier in the world. But, who is the best skier of all time?

Certainly the best American Skier of all time is Bode Miller. Miller comes from the state of New Hampshire in the United States. Although, New Hampshire is no Rocky Mountains, the east coast state is known for it’s skiing along with the state of Vermont and Maine. Bode is known as a pretty wild party animal. He once quit the U.S. Ski Team, but now is back. In the end when picking the best skier ever – what he or she does on the ski slope is what really matters. And, that’s where Miller excels.

Bode Miller has 31 World Cup victories (more than any other American ever – including Phil Mahre who had 27) and also won 4 World Championships – in four different ski disciplines (Giant Slalom; Super-G; Downhill; Combined). He is only the fifth man to win World Cup races in all 5 disciplines (the 4 listed above and also the Slalom). Bode has twice won the overall World Cup Championship (2005 and 2008). One weakness in Bode’s record is that he has never won a Gold Medal in an Olympics game, although he did win 2 Silver Medals in the 2002 Olympic games in Salt Lake City, Utah.

UPDATE: Bode just won the GOLD MEDAL in the Super-Combined at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. He also won the Silver in the Super G and the Bronze in the Downhill. This tremendous all-around performance further cements Bode Miller as the best American (maybe in the world) skier in history.

Others to seriously consider as possibly the top skiers in history include:

Herman Maier (Austria) – 2 Gold Medals (1998 Nagano Games) ; 1 Silver; 1 Bronze; 3 World Championships (Downhill, Super-G; Giant Slalom -- but no Overall Championship); and

Ingemar Stenmark (Sweden) -- 2 Gold Medals in 1980 Olympics (Lake Placid) ; 3 World Championships (2 Slalom; 1 Giant Slalom – again, No Overall Championships).

Given the diversity of Bode Miller’s skiing (has won in all 5 alpine skiing events) which is reflected in his two Overall Championships – we give the nod to Bode Miller as the best all-time skier.

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