Carole Merle

Carole Merle (; born 24 January 1964) is a former French Alpine skier. A specialist of Giant slalom and Super-G, she won 22 World Cup races, 6 World Cup season titles and 1 World Championship gold medal.

Skiing career A native of , a ski resort of Enchastrayes commune where her parents ran a hotel, Merle learned to ski at a very young age. She took part in her first competition as a six-year-old, and made her World Cup debut at 18. On 23 January 1983, she took her first World Cup podium with a third-place finish in giant slalom at St. Gervais. But it took another few years for her to reach her full potential.

Her first World Cup win came on 6 January 1988 at Tignes. The following season saw her bag the World cup title in Super-G, finishing 4 points ahead of 1988 Olympic champion Sigrid Wolf. Merle went on to win the Super-G season title 4 years in a row (1989–1992), a feat only equalled in later years by Katja Seizinger of Germany (1993–1996) and Lindsey Vonn of the USA (2009–2012). In addition, Merle won the giant slalom World Cup in 1992 and 1993. These two same years, she finished 2nd (behind Austria's Petra Kronberger) and 3rd in the World Cup overall standings.

She later settled away from the ski slopes, in a Camargue farmhouse, to pursue her passion for horses. In a 2012 interview for French newspaper Le Dauphiné libéré, she claimed she had not skied for at least six years, but added she would never miss a ski World Cup on TV.

World Cup results Season standings 6 titles – (4 SG, 2 GS) Season Age Overall Super-G Giantslalom Downhill Combine 1982 18 71 - 38 - 26 1983 19 38 - 14 31 - 1984 20 28 - 10 - 24 1985 21 58 - 27 - - 1986 22 40 31 12 28 - 1987 23 60 - 23 - - 1988 24 19 - 6 24 - 1989 25 4 1 6 4 10 1990 26 5 1 7 10 - 1991 27 5 1 17 4 - 1992 28 2 1 1 8 - 1993 29 3 3 1 7 - 1994 30 20 24 8 53 -

Race victories 22 wins – (12 SG, 10 GS) 44 podiums, 88 top tens SeasonDateLocationRace 1988 6 January 1988 Tignes, France Giant slalom 1989 26 November 1988 Schladming, Austria Super-G 14 January 1989 Grindelwald, Switzerland Super-G 20 January 1989 Tignes, France Super-G 1990 10 February 1990 Méribel, France Super-G 11 February 1990 Super-G 10 March 1990 Stranda, Norway Giant slalom 14 March 1990 Klövsjö, Sweden Giant slalom 16 March 1990 Åre, Sweden Super-G 1991 9 February 1991 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany Super-G 24 February 1991 Furano, Japan Super-G 1992 15 December 1991 Santa Caterina, Italy Super-G 15 January 1992 Hinterstoder, Austria Giant slalom 20 January 1992 Piancavallo, Italie Giant slalom 27 January 1992 Morzine, France Giant slalom 15 March 1992 Panorama, Canada Super-G 19 March 1992 Crans-Montana, Switzerland Super-G 21 March 1992 Giant slalom 1993 5 January 1993 Maribor, Slovenia Giant slalom 10 January 1993 Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italie Giant slalom 28 February 1993 Veysonnaz, Switzerland Super-G 27 March 1993 Åre, Sweden Giant slalom