Roland Collombin

Roland Collombin
— Alpine skier —

Roland Collombin c. 1973
Disciplines Downhill
Born (1951-02-17) 17 February 1951
Versegères, Valais, Switzerland
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
World Cup debut 12 December 1971
(1st top 10) (age 20)
Retired December 1975 (age 24)
Website rolandcollombin.ch
Olympics
Teams 1 – (1972)
Medals 1 (0 gold)
World Championships
Teams 2 – (1972, 1974)
    includes Olympics
Medals 1 (0 gold)
World Cup
Seasons 3 – (1972–74)
Wins 8 – (8 DH)
Podiums 11 – (11 DH)
Overall titles 0 – (3rd in 1973)
Discipline titles 2 – (DH, 1973, 1974)
Medal record
Representing   Switzerland
Olympic Games
World Championships
1972 Sapporo Downhill

Roland Collombin (born 17 February 1951) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Switzerland, a two-time World Cup downhill champion and Olympic silver medalist.[1]

Racing career

Born in Versegères in the canton of Valais, Collombin made his first World Cup top ten finish at age 20 in December 1971 with a seventh place in the downhill at Val-d'Isère, France. Two months later, he won the silver medal in the downhill at the 1972 Winter Olympics at Sapporo, Japan, finishing behind countryman Bernhard Russi.

Collombin dominated the event over the next two World Cup seasons, 1973 and 1974, and won the World Cup season titles in downhill.

In January 1974, Collombin won the month's four downhills in consecutive weeks, which included the two classics: the Lauberhorn at Wengen, Switzerland, and the Hahnenkamm at Kitzbühel, Austria. Collombin had finished second in the previous two downhills in December 1973 for six consecutive downhill podiums. The repeat win at Kitzbühel was in record time, besting Jean-Claude Killy's mark of 1967,[2] but was Collombin's last finish in international competition. (Franz Klammer of Austria broke the record at Kitzbühel the following year.)

The World Championships were held in Switzerland in February 1974 at St. Moritz. The Swiss team won seven medals at the Olympics two years earlier in Japan, but managed just one at home, a bronze in the women's slalom. Collombin could not continue his January success; he fell in the downhill and did not finish.[3]

Injuries

In early December 1974, Collombin fell in a training run for the season's first downhill at Val-d'Isère and bruised his spine, ending his 1975 season.[4] In his absence, Franz Klammer of Austria won the first of his four straight downhill season titles. Collombin attempted a comeback in December 1975 at Val-d'Isère, but fell at the same jump as the year before and broke two vertebrae, ending his racing career.[5][6] Nearly paralyzed,[7] Collombin did not walk again until mid-February,[8] after the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck. He finished his World Cup career with eight victories and three runner-up finishes, all in downhill.[1]

After racing

Collombin and his wife Sarah operate a guest house in Versegères, and Collombin also has a product line of wines.[1][9][10]In late 2014 Roland and Sarah opened a raclette bar named "La Streif"(in reference to the ski run in Kitzbuehel, Austria, where Collombin won several times), in the Swiss town of Martigny.[11]

World Cup results

Season titles

Season Discipline
1973 Downhill
1974 Downhill

Season standings

Season Age Overall Slalom Giant
Slalom 		Super G Downhill Combined
1972 21 38 — — not
run 		15 not
awarded
1973 22 3 — — 1
1974 23 4 — — 1
1975 24 injured at first DH race, out for season
1976 25

Top Ten Finishes

Season Date Location Discipline Place
1972 12 December 1971France Val-d'Isère, France Downhill 7th
15 January 1972 Austria Kitzbühel, Austria Downhill 7th
Japan 1972 Winter Olympics
1973 10 December 1972France Val-d'Isère, France Downhill 4th
15 December 1972 Italy Val Gardena, Italy Downhill 1st
6 January 1973 West Germany Garmisch, West Germany Downhill 1st
7 January 1973 Downhill 1st
13 January 1973  Switzerland  Grindelwald, Switzerland Downhill 2nd
27 January 1973 Austria Kitzbühel, Austria Downhill 1st
1974 18 December 1973 Austria Zell am See, Austria Downhill 2nd
22 December 1973 Austria Schladming, Austria Downhill 2nd
6 January 1974 West Germany Garmisch, West Germany Downhill 1st
12 January 1974 France Avoriaz, FranceDownhill 1st
19 January 1974  Switzerland  Wengen, Switzerland Downhill 1st
26 January 1974 Austria Kitzbühel, Austria Downhill 1st

World championship results

  Year    Age   Slalom  Giant
 Slalom  		Super-G Downhill Combined
1972 20 — — not run 2 —
1974 22 — — DNF —

From 1948 through 1980, the Winter Olympics were also the World Championships for alpine skiing.

Olympic results

  Year    Age   Slalom  Giant
 Slalom  		Super-G Downhill Combined
1972 20 — — not run 2 not run

References

  1. 1 2 3 Roland Collombin. sports-reference.com
  2. ↑ "Swiss tops Killy's mark in downhill". Spokesman-Review. Associated Press. 27 January 1974. p. 9.
  3. ↑ "Thoeni adds second skiing gold". Montreal Gazette. UPI. 11 February 1974. p. 17.
  4. ↑ "Proell-Moser wins". Ottawa Citizen. Associated Press. 9 December 1974. p. 18.
  5. ↑ "Swiss star injured – French skier killed". Ottawa Citizen. Reuters. 8 December 1975. p. 18.
  6. ↑ Reilly, Rick (23 November 1998). "Uphill battle for a downhill skier". Sports Illustrated: 174.
  7. ↑ "End of career". Montreal Gazette. Associated Press. 11 December 1975. p. 50.
  8. ↑ "Sport shorts: Swiss skier Roland Collombin". Montreal Gazette. 20 February 1976. p. 25.
  9. ↑ Reviews of Rolland Collombin guest house in Versegères, Switzerland. tripadvisor.com
  10. ↑ Commandez vos vins préférés. rolandcollumbin.ch (French) – wines – accessed 2 January 2011
  11. ↑ La «Colombe» remet la gomme, mais cette fois en famille! illustre.ch. 17 December 2014
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