Roland Collombin
 c. 1973 | |||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 17 February 1951 Versegères, Valais, Switzerland | ||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Alpine skier | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||||||||||||||
| Skiing career | |||||||||||||||
| Disciplines | Downhill | ||||||||||||||
| World Cup debut | 12 December 1971 (1st top 10) (age 20) | ||||||||||||||
| Retired | December 1975 (age 24) | ||||||||||||||
| Website | rolandcollombin.ch | ||||||||||||||
| Olympics | |||||||||||||||
| Teams | 1 – (1972) | ||||||||||||||
| Medals | 1 (0 gold) | ||||||||||||||
| World Championships | |||||||||||||||
| Teams | 2 – (1972, 1974) includes Olympics | ||||||||||||||
| Medals | 1 (0 gold) | ||||||||||||||
| World Cup | |||||||||||||||
| Seasons | 3 – (1972–74) | ||||||||||||||
| Wins | 8 – (8 DH) | ||||||||||||||
| Podiums | 11 – (11 DH) | ||||||||||||||
| Overall titles | 0 – (3rd in 1973) | ||||||||||||||
| Discipline titles | 2 – (DH, 1973, 1974) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||
Roland Collombin (born 17 February 1951) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Switzerland, a two-time World Cup downhill champion and Olympic silver medalist.[1]
Racing career
Born in Versegères in the canton of Valais, Collombin made his first World Cup top ten finish at age 20 in December 1971 with a seventh place in the downhill at Val-d'Isère, France. Two months later, he won the silver medal in the downhill at the 1972 Winter Olympics at Sapporo, Japan, finishing behind countryman Bernhard Russi.
Collombin dominated the event over the next two World Cup seasons, 1973 and 1974, and won the World Cup season titles in downhill.
In January 1974, Collombin won the month's four downhills in consecutive weeks, which included the two classics: the Lauberhorn at Wengen, Switzerland, and the Hahnenkamm at Kitzbühel, Austria. Collombin had finished second in the previous two downhills in December 1973 for six consecutive downhill podiums. The repeat win at Kitzbühel was in record time, besting Jean-Claude Killy's mark of 1967,[2] but was Collombin's last finish in international competition. (Franz Klammer of Austria broke the record at Kitzbühel the following year.)
The World Championships were held in Switzerland in February 1974 at St. Moritz. The Swiss team won seven medals at the Olympics two years earlier in Japan, but managed just one at home, a bronze in the women's slalom (by Lise-Marie Morerod). Collombin could not continue his January success; he fell in the downhill and did not finish, but he was 0.45 seconds behind winner David Zwilling before he did fall, maybe a to big margin to take the win.[3]
Injuries
On 8 December 1974, Collombin fell in the season's first downhill at Val-d'Isère and bruised his spine, ending his 1975 season.[4] In his absence, Franz Klammer of Austria won the first of his four straight downhill season titles. Collombin attempted a comeback on 7 December 1975 at Val-d'Isère, but fell in the first training at the same jump as the year before and broke two vertebrae, being paralyzed for two days and ending his racing career. That jump is called »Bosse à Collombin« since that time.[5][6] Nearly paralyzed,[7] Collombin did not walk again until mid-February,[8] after the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck. He finished his World Cup career with eight victories and three runner-up finishes, all in downhill.[1]
By now, Mr. Collombin is a vinicultarist, wine merchant and hotelier at Versegères.[citation needed]
After racing
Collombin and his wife Sarah operate a guest house in Versegères, and they have a product line of wines.[1][9][10] In late 2014, they opened a raclette bar in Martigny named "La Streif", in reference to the challenging downhill course in Kitzbühel, Austria, where he won twice (1973, 1974).[11]
World Cup results
Season titles
| Season | Discipline |
|---|---|
| 1973 | Downhill |
| 1974 | Downhill |
Season standings
| Season | Age | Overall | Slalom | Giant Slalom |
Super G | Downhill | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | 21 | 38 | — | — | not run |
15 | not awarded |
| 1973 | 22 | 3 | — | — | 1 | ||
| 1974 | 23 | 4 | — | — | 1 | ||
| 1975 | 24 | injured at first DH race, out for season | |||||
| 1976 | 25 | ||||||
Top ten finishes
- 8 wins – (8 DH)
- 11 podiums – (11 DH), 14 top tens
| Season | Date | Location | Discipline | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | 12 December 1971 |  Val-d'Isère, France |
Downhill | 7th |
| 15 January 1972 |  Kitzbühel, Austria |
Downhill | 7th | |
 1972 Winter Olympics
| ||||
| 1973 | 10 December 1972 | Val-d'Isère, France |
Downhill | 4th |
| 15 December 1972 |  Val Gardena, Italy |
Downhill | 1st | |
| 6 January 1973 |  Garmisch, West Germany |
Downhill | 1st | |
| 7 January 1973 | Downhill | 1st | ||
| 13 January 1973 |  Grindelwald, Switzerland |
Downhill | 2nd | |
| 27 January 1973 | Kitzbühel, Austria |
Downhill | 1st | |
| 1974 | 18 December 1973 | Zell am See, Austria |
Downhill | 2nd |
| 22 December 1973 | Schladming, Austria |
Downhill | 2nd | |
| 6 January 1974 | Garmisch, West Germany |
Downhill | 1st | |
| 12 January 1974 | Avoriaz, France |
Downhill | 1st | |
| 19 January 1974 | Wengen, Switzerland |
Downhill | 1st | |
| 26 January 1974 | Kitzbühel, Austria |
Downhill | 1st | |
World championship results
| Year | Age | Slalom | Giant Slalom |
Super-G | Downhill | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | 20 | — | — | not run | 2 | — |
| 1974 | 22 | — | — | DNF | — |
From 1948 through 1980, the Winter Olympics were also the World Championships for alpine skiing.
Olympic results 
| Year | Age | Slalom | Giant Slalom |
Super-G | Downhill | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | 20 | — | — | not run | 2 | not run |
References
- ^ a b c Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Roland Collombin". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020.
- ^ "Swiss tops Killy's mark in downhill". Spokesman-Review. Associated Press. 27 January 1974. p. 9.
- ^ "Thoeni adds second skiing gold". Montreal Gazette. UPI. 11 February 1974. p. 17.
- ^ "Proell-Moser wins". Ottawa Citizen. Associated Press. 9 December 1974. p. 18.
- ^ "Swiss star injured – French skier killed". Ottawa Citizen. Reuters. 8 December 1975. p. 18.
- ^ Reilly, Rick (23 November 1998). "Uphill battle for a downhill skier". Sports Illustrated. p. 174. Archived from the original on 17 December 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
- ^ "End of career". Montreal Gazette. Associated Press. 11 December 1975. p. 50.
- ^ "Sport shorts: Swiss skier Roland Collombin". Montreal Gazette. 20 February 1976. p. 25.
- ^ Reviews of Rolland Collombin guest house in Versegères, Switzerland. tripadvisor.com
- ^ Commandez vos vins préférés. rolandcollumbin.ch (in French) – wines – accessed 2 January 2011
- ^ La «Colombe» remet la gomme, mais cette fois en famille! Archived 24 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine illustre.ch. 17 December 2014
External links
- Roland Collombin at the International Ski and Snowboard Federation
- Roland Collombin World Cup standings at the International Ski Federation
- Roland Collombin at Ski-DB Alpine Ski Database
- Roland Collombin at Olympics.com
- Roland Collombin.ch personal site/photo gallery (in French)
- Videos
- Video on YouTube – Roland Collombin – penultimate victory – Wengen – 19-Jan-1974
- Video on YouTube – Albrecht vs. Collombin – career ending crashes of two Swiss downhillers – (Jan 2009 vs Dec 1975)
