Maria Helena Pietilä-Holmner (born 25 July 1986) is a retired Swedish World Cup alpine ski racer. She specialised in the technical events of slalom and giant slalom.
 Maria Pietilä-Holmner in Sälen in April 2014 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 25 July 1986 Umeå, Sweden | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Alpine skier | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Skiing career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disciplines | Slalom, giant slalom | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Uhsk Umeå SK | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Cup debut | 26 October 2002 (age 16) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | 17 January 2018 (age 31) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | mariapietilaholmner | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Olympics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Teams | 3 – (2006, 2010, 2014) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Medals | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Championships | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Teams | 6 – (2005–2017) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Medals | 2 (0 gold) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Cup | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Seasons | 13 – (2005–2017) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wins | 3 – (2 SL, 1 CE) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Podiums | 10 – (7 SL, 1 GS, 2 CE) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Overall titles | 0 – (7th in 2014) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline titles | 0 – (3rd in GS, 2014) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Born in Umeå, Pietilä-Holmner took up alpine skiing at the age of seven. She was also a keen footballer, playing as a forward for Mariehem's girls' teams until the age of 15, when she decided to focus on skiing. Pietilä-Holmner made her World Cup debut in Sölden at age 16 in October 2002.[1] She won a gold medal at the 2006 World Junior Alpine Skiing Championships in the slalom.[2] Her first World Cup win came at a slalom in Aspen in November 2010.[3][4] She made a total of 207 World Cup starts, and took ten podiums, including three wins.[2]
Pietilä-Holmner took five medals in the World Championships, two as an individual and three in the team events. She was the silver medalist in giant slalom in 2007 at Åre, Sweden.[5] Four years later in 2011, she won 2 bronze medals at Garmish-Partenkirchen in the slalom[6] and the team event. At Schladming in 2013, she won a silver in the team event. She took her final Worlds medal at the 2017 Championships, where she was part of the Swedish squad which finished third in the team event.[2]
She made her debut at the Winter Olympics in 2006, where she finished tenth in the giant slalom.[1] At the 2010 Winter Games, she finished fourth in the slalom, and at the 2014 Winter Olympics she was sixth in the giant slalom. She also won seven Swedish championship titles: five in slalom, one in giant slalom and one in combined.[2]
On 17 January 2018, she announced her retirement from alpine skiing, following back problems.[7] to instead become a Eurosport expert commentator.[8]
She has been in a relationship with fellow alpine skier Hans Olsson since 2004:[9] as of 2018 the couple were engaged.[2] They both worked as part of the team covering alpine skiing at the 2018 Winter Olympics for Eurosport.[10]
World Cup results
editSeason standings
edit| Season | Age | Overall | Slalom | Giant slalom |
Super-G | Downhill | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 17 | 104 | — | 43 | — | — | — |
| 2005 | 18 | 63 | 33 | 31 | — | — | — |
| 2006 | 19 | 24 | 17 | 20 | — | — | — |
| 2007 | 20 | 26 | 15 | 14 | — | — | — |
| 2008 | 21 | 29 | 12 | 12 | — | — | — |
| 2009 | 22 | 13 | 7 | 7 | 54 | — | — |
| 2010 | 23 | 13 | 8 | 6 | — | — | — |
| 2011 | 24 | 11 | 4 | 19 | — | — | 32 |
| 2012 | 25 | 33 | 14 | 29 | — | — | — |
| 2013 | 26 | 17 | 7 | 27 | — | — | — |
| 2014 | 27 | 7 | 4 | 3 | — | — | — |
| 2015 | 28 | 15 | 7 | 16 | — | — | — |
| 2016 | 29 | 19 | 9 | 8 | — | — | — |
| 2017 | 30 | 65 | 23 | 33 | — | — | — |
| 2018 | 31 | did not compete; retired in the middle of season | |||||
Race podiums
edit| Season | Date | Location | Discipline | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 15 November 2008 |  Levi, Finland |
Slalom | 2nd |
| 2011 | 28 November 2010 |  Aspen, USA |
Slalom | 1st |
| 2 January 2011 |  Munich, Germany |
City event | 1st | |
| 2012 | 27 November 2011 | Aspen, USA |
Slalom | 2nd |
| 2014 | 22 December 2013 |  Val-d'Isère, France |
Giant slalom | 3rd |
| 5 January 2014 |  Bormio, Italy |
Slalom | 2nd | |
| 14 January 2014 |  Flachau, Austria |
Slalom | 3rd | |
| 8 March 2014 |  Åre, Sweden |
Slalom | 2nd | |
| 2015 | 13 December 2014 | Slalom | 1st | |
| 2016 | 23 February 2016 | Stockholm, Sweden |
City event | 3rd |
World Championship results
edit| Year | Age | Slalom | Giant slalom |
Super-G | Downhill | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 18 | 13 | 16 | — | — | — |
| 2007 | 20 | 11 | 2 | — | — | — |
| 2009 | 22 | DNF1 | 8 | — | — | — |
| 2011 | 24 | 3 | 22 | — | — | — |
| 2013 | 26 | 6 | 18 | — | — | — |
| 2015 | 28 | 14 | 9 | — | — | — |
| 2017 | 30 | 14 | 25 | — | — | — |
Olympic results
edit| Year | Age | Slalom | Giant slalom |
Super-G | Downhill | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 19 | 21 | 10 | — | — | — |
| 2010 | 23 | 4 | 24 | — | — | — |
| 2014 | 27 | DNF1 | 6 | — | — | — |
Video
edit- Zapiks – post-race interview in November 2011 – 2nd place, Aspen slalom
References
edit- ^ a b Frime, Monika (24 July 2006). "Maria Pietilä Holmner fyller 20 år" [Maria Pietilä Holmner turns 20 years old]. hd.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 18 February 2019.
- ^ a b c d e "Familjelängtande "PH" ler mot karriärslutet" [Family-longing "PH" smiles at the end of her career]. sydsvenskan.se (in Swedish). 17 January 2018. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
- ^ "Swedish skier wins World Cup slalom; Lindsey Vonn eighth". USA Today. Associated Press. 28 November 2010. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
- ^ Piestrup, Zeke (28 November 2010). "Maria Pietila Holmner wins Aspen World Cup slalom, Maria Riesch second, Lindsey Vonn 8th". Ski Channel. Archived from the original on 15 February 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
- ^ "Fall costly for Paerson". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 14 February 2007. p. D-11.
- ^ "Sweden's Pietilä Holmner claims world ski bronze". The Local. 19 February 2011. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
- ^ Lisa Edwinsso (17 January 2018). "Maria PH avslutar karriären" (in Swedish). Dagens nyheter. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
- ^ "Maria PH slutar" (in Swedish). Sportbladet. 17 January 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
- ^ Svensson, Ulrika (2 July 2012). "Couples rehab: Maria Pietilä-Holmner & Hans Olsson". International Ski Federation. Archived from the original on 21 February 2018. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
- ^ Ruuth, Tomas. "Klart: Maria PH till OS – som tv-expert" [Clear: Maria PH to Olympic Games - as a TV expert]. Folkbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 17 February 2019.
External links
edit
Media related to Maria Pietilä-Holmner at Wikimedia Commons
- Maria Pietilä Holmner at the International Ski and Snowboard Federation
- Maria Pietilae-Holmner World Cup standings at the International Ski Federation
- Maria Pietilä Holmner at Ski-DB Alpine Ski Database
- Maria Pietilä Holmner at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
- Swedish Olympic Committee – Maria Pietilä Holmner – (in Swedish)
- Rossignol.com – Maria Pietilä-Holmner – alpine skiing – Sweden
- Official website – (in Swedish)