| LUESCHER, Peter (SUI) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 14.10.1956 Rommanshorn (SUI) 177cm / 72kg |
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| SKI: Rossignol 1985. retired |
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| In 1979, Switzerland's Peter Luescher was the first all-rounder to win
the Overall World Cup again after three slalom specialists had dominated
from 1971 to 1978. Luescher did it with the help of the World Cup rules
which favored skiers scoring points in all events including the "combined"
events. Sweden's Ingemar Stenmark, the winner in the previous three Overall
standings, wasn't able to score more than 150 points despite 14 wins in
GS and slalom because he refused to enter the downhill and the combined
events. Luescher, a former Swiss water-ski champion, was a very consistent skier in all events, scoring a total of 186 points. He also finished in the top-3 in GS several times. Luescher was the first Swiss to win the World Cup. But it took time to achieve his success - in fact Peter did not qualify for the 1980' Olympics and had to wait until 1983 to win again -- a downhill and Super-G. He suffered several severe crashes and gave up racing in 1985 to marry former French ski racer Fabienne Serrat. His success inspired a new generation of champions who learned it was possible to win it all without being a specialist. In fact the six next World Cup champions were "all-rounders" - until Alberto Tomba in 1995. |
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Biorama Basel |
