Gustav Thöni

Gustav Thöni (; sometimes listed as Gustavo Thoeni; born 28 February 1951) is an Italian retired World Cup alpine ski racer.

Career Thöni was born in the German-speaking province of South Tyrol, in the hamlet of Trafoi of the Stilfs municipality, which is situated on the northern ramp of the Stelvio Pass. He currently operates a hotel there. He did win two world titles that year, in giant slalom and slalom, at the 1974 World Championships, but those results were not included in the World Cup standings.

Although he concentrated on the technical events, he did occasionally compete in the only speed event of the era, the downhill (the Super-G was not run on the World Cup circuit until December 1982). His best finish in a downhill was a second place on the Hahnenkamm, Kitzbühel, Austria, in January 1975. After more than two minutes on the classic Streif course, he lost to the up-and-coming Austrian legend Franz Klammer by just one-hundredth of a second, a distance of about at . This event inspired the 1981 movie Un centesimo di secondo by Duccio Tessari, which featured Thöni himself.

He finished eighth in the slalom at the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid. As the torch had been passed on to the two top finishers, Stenmark and American Phil Mahre, Thöni retired from World Cup competition a month later in March 1980 at the age of 29. Later, he was a personal coach to Alberto Tomba (1989–1996). In parallel, he was technical director of the men's national team, and then, until 1999, general manager of both male and female national teams.

Thöni was the Italian flag bearer at the opening ceremonies of the 1976 and 1980 Olympics and at the closing of the 2006 Winter Games in Torino. In 1973 and 1974 he was named "Skieur d’Or" by international ski journalists. He is mentioned in the song "Nuntereggae più" by Rino Gaetano. His cousin Roland Thöni was also a World Cup alpine ski racer in the 1970s. Roland took bronze in the slalom at the 1972 Olympics, while Gustav took the silver.

World Cup results

Season titles 8 titles (4 overall, 2 giant slalom, 2 slalom)

Season standings Season Age Overall Slalom Giant Slalom Super G Downhill Combined 1970 19 3 4 1 notrun — awardedonlyin 1976& 1980 1971201 2 2 13 1972211 4 1 17 1973221 1 4 — 1974232 1 3 — 1975241 3 4 9 1976253 3 2 — 2 197726 6 5 10 — 197827 26 22 10 23 197928 9 9 20 — 198029 51 18 — — —

Race victories 24 wins (11 GS, 8 SL, 4K, 1 PR) 69 podiums (2 DH, 26 GS, 32 SL, 8 K, 1 PR) 25 second places 20 third places World Cup races (over 300 starts)

Season Date Location Discipline 1970 11 Dec 1969 Val d'Isère, France Giant slalom 4 Jan 1970 Bad Hindelang, West Germany Slalom 29 Jan 1970 Madonna di Campiglio, Italy Giant slalom 30 Jan 1970 Giant slalom 1971 10 Jan 1971 Madonna di Campiglio, Italy Slalom 21 Feb 1971 Sugarloaf, ME, USA Giant slalom 25 Feb 1971 Heavenly Valley, CA, USA Slalom 27 Feb 1971 Giant slalom 1972 2 Mar 1972 Heavenly Valley, CA, USA Giant slalom 1973 15 Jan 1973 Adelboden, Switzerland Giant slalom 4 Feb 1973 St. Anton, Austria Slalom 4 Mar 1973 Mont Ste. Anne, QC, Canada Slalom 1974 20 Jan 1974 Adelboden, Switzerland Giant slalom 2 Mar 1974 Voss, Norway Giant slalom 10 Mar 1974 Vysoke Tatry, Czechoslovakia Slalom 1975 12 Jan 1975 Wengen, Switzerland Combined 19 Jan 1975 Kitzbühel, Austria Combined 30 Jan 1975 Chamonix, France Slalom 1 Feb 1975 Megève, France Combined 15 Mar 1975 Sun Valley, ID, USA Slalom 23 Mar 1975 Val Gardena, Italy Parallel 1976 5 Dec 1975 Val d'Isère, France Giant slalom 12 Jan 1976 Adelboden, Switzerland Giant slalom 1977 16 Jan 1977 Wengen, Switzerland Combined

World championship results Year Age Slalom Giant Slalom Super-G Downhill Combined 1970 18 4 DNF notrun — — 1972 20 2 1 13 1 1974 22 1 1 — — 1976 24 2 4 26 1 1978 26 DNF1 24 12 — 1980 28 8 — — — From 1948 through 1980, the Winter Olympics were also the World Championships for alpine skiing. At the World Championships from 1954 through 1980, the combined was a "paper race" using the results of the three events (DH, GS, SL).

Year Age Slalom Giant Slalom Super-G Downhill Combined 1972 20 2 1 notrun 13 notrun 1976 24 2 4 26 1980 28 8 — —