Deborah Compagnoni
Compagnoni in March 2010
Personal information
Born (1970-06-04) 4 June 1970
Bormio, Italy
OccupationAlpine skier
Height165 cm (5 ft 5 in)
Skiing career
World Cup debut1986
Retired1999
Olympics
Medals4 (3 gold)
World Championships
Medals3 (3 gold)
World Cup
Seasons14
Wins16
Podiums44
Overall titles0 (4th 1998 & 1999)
Discipline titles1 (Gs 1997)
Medal record
International alpine ski competitions
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 3 1 0
World Championships 3 0 0
Total 6 1 0
World Cup race podiums
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Super-G 2 0 1
Giant 13 10 8
Slalom 1 5 4
Total 16 15 13
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1992 Albertville Super-G
Gold medal – first place 1994 Lillehammer Giant slalom
Gold medal – first place 1998 Nagano Giant slalom
Silver medal – second place 1998 Nagano Slalom
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1996 Sierra Nevada Giant slalom
Gold medal – first place 1997 Sestrière Giant slalom
Gold medal – first place 1997 Sestrière Slalom

Deborah Compagnoni (Italian pronunciation: [ˈdɛːbora kompaɲˈɲoːni]; born 4 June 1970) is an Italian former Alpine skier who won three gold medals at the 1992, 1994, and 1998 Winter Olympics.[1]

Biography

Deborah Compagnoni was born in Bormio, northern Lombardy, and skied with the G.S. Forestale club.[1]

Compagnoni soon attracted attention for her great talent. Her career was always marked by major successes, but also by serious accidents. After her first major victory, the World Junior title in giant slalom, and her first podium in World Cup, she broke her right knee in the Val d'Isére downhill. After surgery, she decided to stop competing in downhill races, where her talent could have permitted even greater successes than those she obtained in her still outstanding career.[1]

Compagnoni won her first race in the World Cup in 1992. She also won the gold medal at the Winter Olympics of the same year, again in the super-G; however, while racing the giant slalom one day later, she destroyed her left knee.[1]

In the following years, she left the speed disciplines (downhill and Super-G), confirming herself as one of the best giant slalom specialists. Her fragile knees hindered Compagnoni's practice activity, and limited the number of victories in the World Cup; however, she always arrived in her best shape for the major championships. In 1994, at the Lillehammer Olympics, she won the gold medal in the giant slalom, a feat she repeated four years later in Nagano. In 1998, she won also a silver medal in the Slalom, finishing second by only 0.06 seconds.[1]

Compagnoni won the World Championship in giant slalom in 1996; in the following year's edition, she repeated the victory, alongside winning with the slalom title, a feat never accomplished by any other Italian female skier. She won a total of 16 races in the Alpine Skiing World Cup (13 giant slalom, 2 super-G, and 1 slalom), plus a giant slalom World Cup in 1997.[1]

Deborah Compagnoni is considered the best Italian female skier of all time, the equal of famous male champions like Gustav Thöni and Alberto Tomba. The World Cup skiing track in her native Santa Caterina Valfurva has been named after her.

She is married to Alessandro Benetton, and they have three children: Agnese, Tobias, and Luce; they live in Ponzano Veneto, Italy.[2][3] Her brother Jacopo Compagnoni, a fellow Alpine skier, died during an avalanche on Monte Sobretta on December 16, 2021, at the age of 40.[4]

World Cup results

Season titles

SeasonDiscipline
1997Giant slalom

Season standings

Season Overall Downhill Super-G Giant slalom Slalom Combined
Place Points Place Points Place Points Place Points Place Points Place Points
1987/8840.2422.1217.12
1988/89did not participate due to an injury
1989/9052.1922.924.10
1990/9157.1217.12
1991/9211.59015.1264.34419.120
1992/9311.5356.2308.20017.105
1993/946.84118.913.51512.19512.40
1994/9512.52425.745.32514.125
1995/9622.3466.28030.66
1996/974.9671.5603.407
1997/984.9122.5656.304
1998/9922.3479.25623.91

Races victories

These are her world cup victories.[5]

Date Location Race
26 January 1992MorzineSuper-G
7 March 1993MorzineSuper-G
5 December 1993TignesGiant slalom
11 December 1993VeysonnazGiant slalom
5 January 1994MorzineGiant slalom
8 January 1995Haus im EnnstalGiant slalom
2 March 1996NarvikGiant slalom
29 December 1996SemmeringSlalom
17 January 1997ZwieselGiant slalom
18 January 1997ZwieselGiant slalom
26 January 1997Cortina d'AmpezzoGiant slalom
15 March 1997VailGiant slalom
25 October 1997TignesGiant slalom
21 November 1997Park CityGiant slalom
19 December 1997Val-d'IsèreGiant slalom
6 January 1998BormioGiant slalom

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Deborah Compagnoni - Athlete Information". fis-ski.com. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
  2. "A life in the day: Alessandro Benetton, retail magnate", The Sunday Times, John Follain, 13 April 2008
  3. "Alessandro Benetton: Future Perfect", Elle, Alexandra Marshall, 6 January 2010 Archived 26 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "Morto Jacopo Compagnoni, il fratello di Deborah travolto da una valanga in Valfurva". La Repubblica. 16 December 2021.
  5. Encyclopædia Britannica almanac 2008
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