NEF, Sonja (SUI) web site 19,Apr,1972 Grub 163cm / 60 kg SKI: Voelkl BOOTS: Tecnica BINDING: Marker 2006 retired Tignes 2000 GS/1st Serre Chevalier 2000 GS Park City 01. GS/ 1st Sestriere 01.GS-II / 1st St.Anton WM 01, GS/ 1st Park City 03 GS World Cup Ranking General 1993/121st, 1994/106th, 1995/48th, 1996/15th, 1997/23rd, 1998/16th. 1999/15th, 2000/6th, 2001/4th, 2002/3rd, 2003/13th, 2004/29th, 2005/24th. 2006/82nd. Special 1999 GS/4th, SL/21st, 2000 GS/2nd, SL/14th. 2001 GS/1st, SL/2nd, 2002 SL/4th, GS/1st, 2003 GS/5th, SL/14th. 2004 GS/16th, SL/19th. 2005 SL/14th, GS/17th. 2006 SL/38th, GS/38th. World Championship 1997 Sestriere. GS/8th. 1999 Vail. SL/DNF, GS/11th. 2001 St.Anton. GS/ 1st. 2003 St.Moritz. GS/8th, 2005 Bormio/S.Caterina. GS/DNF, SL/DNF. Olympic Games 1998 Nagano GS/DNF. 2002 Salt Lake City GS/3rd. World Cup - 15 w. (13 GS, 2 SL) 1. SL: Sestriere 96, Are 01, GS: Tignes 00, Are 00, Sestriere 00, Park City 01, Sestriere 01-II, Semmering 01, Maribor 01, Cortina 01, Are 01, Val d'Isere 02, Maribor 02, Flachau 02, Bormio 03, 2. GS: Maribor 96‡U, Are 98. Maribor 2000, Soelden 02, Val d'Isere 03, SL: Semmering 01, Saalbach 02, Park City 04, 3. GS: Cortina 97, Are 99-II, Sestriere 01-II, Copper Mt. 02, Are 02, SL: Ofterschwang 01, Sestriere 02, Maribor 02, 4. GS: Park City 98, Crans Montana 98, Sierra Nevada 99, Val d'Isere 2000, Lienz 2000, Berchtesgaden 02, SL: Aspen 01, 5. GS: Cortina 96, Val d'Isere 98, Bormio 98-II, Soelden 99, Are 99-I, Park City 03, Santa Caterina 05, SL: Are 02, Park City 03, Bormio 03, Zagreb 05, 6. GS: Narvik 96, Bormio 98-II, Soelden 03, Semmering 03, SL: Semmering 97-I, Maribor 97, Aspen 03, Lienz 04, During the 1999/2000 season, Sonja Nef proved during her 8th World Cup season that she was as tough as talented when she celebrated an emotional comeback at the top several years after her first success. A winner in a night slalom in Sestriere in January 1996, Sonja had to overcome some very difficult moments before celebrating more victories on the World Cup tour during that winter. A three-time winner in GS at Tignes, Are and Sestriere, Sonja was a close 2nd in the finals GS World Cup standings behind Austria's Michaela Dorfmeister, a four-time winner in that event during the season. Sonja Nef has an angelic smile, but she fights like a devil to reach her goals. Life has not been easy for the attractive Swiss skier, plagued by a series of injuries at the start of her career. She underwent surgery several times from 1989 to 1996 after tearing ligaments in her right knee. It's almost a wonder that she's able to ski, but her career was finally saved by a Swiss specialist who found unusual ways to treat her damaged ligaments - including regular injections of shark oil to moisturize them. She also learned to be stronger in her mind and more focused with the help of a mental trainer she met during in spring 1999. Nef faced some tough time in February 1996, when she crashed in the second leg of the giant slalom during the World Championships in Sierra Nevada, after leading the first run. Italy's Deborah Compagnoni eventually won that race, which haunted Nef for a long time. After a disappointing 1997 season, Nef hired a private ski trainer, Sepp Brunner. She felt the need to set her own pace during snow training, to avoid overworking her injured knee. At first, she paid herself for the extra cost, before finding an arrangement with her ski Federation. This technical adviser still helped her a lot and worked also with the other Swiss trainers during the winter. Another expert, her fiancee , also provides excellent technical support before and during the season - he is a trainer on the Austrian men's team. During the winter, they live together in a nice house near Salzburg. After winning her first giant slalom at Tignes, the Swiss caught pneumonia during the US races in Colorado. That kept her down for a while, but she returned to the podium in January in Maribor. But she didn't perform so well in the following races and skied out in Cortina d'Ampezzo. In Are, she felt ready for another strong comeback on the course on which she has always had good luck. She dominated the field to beat by a second Austria's veteran and two-time winner in Are, Anita Wachter. In the slalom, she was skiing onto the podium when she suffered a tough crash after straddling one of the last gates of the second run. She badly injured her right ankle in that accident and couldn't ski during the following weeks. Fortunately, an Austrian specialist in acupuncture did a great job on that leg and she was able to return on snow a day before the next-to-last GS race at Sestriere. Sonja won it after an amazing second run to remain in the race for the Crystal globe. But she could not retain her pace at Bormio where the Austrian team beat her. Yet a last good race in the final slalom at Bormio allowed her to regain her spot in the first seed in that speciality. At 28, Sonja has peaked and looks ahead for her first medals at St Anton and Salt Lake City. At the 1998 Olympics at Shiga Kogen, she was skiing fast in the GS but fell down after she hooked a gate with a shoulder. She finished 8th in GS at Sestriere in 1997 and 11th at Vail in 1999. Biorama Basel