Top 10 Best Alpine Skiers of All Time

The Top Ten
1 Ingemar Stenmark

When I grew up & went to school in the 70's - the only time we were allowed to watch T.V. during school hours was when Ingmar Stenmark was racing. I think most of Sweden was at a stand still. He could beat the opposition by seconds sometimes in stead of hundreds of a second.

FIS had to rewrite the rules because Ingemar was just unbeatable. Of course impossible to really compare skiers in different time periods, but Ingemar dominated like no one has done since.

I saw him win in Kitzbuhl and the commentators all said he was like music coming down the slalom where on the downhill course it gave me my greatest fear of all going down right after the downhill racers the last day.

2 Hermann Maier

He would find a line that no one else dared to to take, and hold it through the finish. One of the strongest skiers ever.

Maier won a World Cup in his 30's after an accident in which his leg was almost amputated. There is "The Herminator" then the rest!

To make a come back after such a horrible accident is fantastic he is the greatest...

3 Franz Klammer

Without question the best skier of his time. He was the first skier to put real fire on the slopes, a bit like Bode Miller does today. But overall, Klammer deserves the top spot for all time greats in this dangerous and compelling sport. Bode can quite happily accept 2nd place!

Alway threw caution to the wind and went for it. After seeing him on a programme training by jumping in a circle of varying bars I was hooked. Full of Charisma and someone you always had a belief that he could pull it off.

His record speaks for itself - but the run at Innsbruck in 1976 to win Olympic gold took literally death-defying courage. One of the pinnacles of sporting ahievement in any field.

4 Alberto Tomba

When he was on the line, alpine ski in Italy (and not only there) was almost more important than football! The Sanremo Festival 1988 (the most important music festival) stopped for allowing the people to follow his race in slalom at Calgary Olympics! And he won, of course! A real phenomenon with a fantastic talent, simply exciting!

Had he the same character as Stenmark he could have become the greatest of all times... Unfortunately he liked skiing as much as parties

Alberto brought a technical revolution in skiing; has ski expert Mario Cotelli used to say Alberto was the first 4x4 skier!

5 Jean-Claude Killy

In 1967 he won 72% of all the World Cup races, and placed in a bunch of others. No one will ever match that. He had a great combo of excellent upper body / waist action / flexibility to go with obviously great legs / feet / flexibility action there as well. If he trained like they do now, he'd be up there with anyone. Mikaela Shiffrin has a real chance to be great in all disciplines, like Killy-since she also has, or is acquiring / has a shot at bettering (as per GS) the above attributes he had. The hardest part of being great in all disciplines, like Killy, is probably the slalom part (? - but seems to me )-and Shiffrin has that dialed in.

6 Frida Hansdotter

Been following Frida since 2004.
She is an attractive young lady.
I wish her nothing but the best when she retires in a few weeks,

She is so cool, and she is an Olympic gold medalist.

7 Lindsey Vonn

Should be higher on list. One of the all-time world cup and Olympic greats. Just won a bronze in the downhill at PyeongChang. Oldest skier to medal in Olympic downhill.

Only Ingemar Stenmark was better.

She is amazing skier, takes risks and made so many comebacks after injuries. She is an inspiration to all skiers and athletes.

Um, excuse me! This gal should be number one! The most decorated skier of all time, breaking so many records. She is legendary.

8 Bode Miller

He's just an amazing skier. He loves the mountain and he adores skiing. Bode is incredible and he is always ready to do something strange and dangerous - for example one foot skiing in Lake Louse.

He should not be in the top 5 but just love his skiing style... Bode introduced a new way of WC skiing and although he could have won more, he remains on e of the most influential skiers of all time

He's highly skilled, unconventional and very daring - do, plus independently minded... -That makes Bode Miller the champion in my eyes!

9 Marcel Hirscher

Definitely the greatest that has ever been riding down the slopes of the world, year after year for 6 consecutive years. In nowadays perfected world of skiing this is a feat so amazing it simply can not be measured against any other achievements of past skiers.

Nobody has been so dominant in 6 consecutive years as Marcel Hirscher. I believe it was easier to win in the "old " days - say 20-30 years ago. Today Skiers are more Athletic, the sport is also faster and more dangerous in general.

Definitely the best Ski racer of all times. While it is always difficult to compare different decades of skier, no one is more technical dominant as Hirscher.

10 Ted Ligety

Most perfect skier ever—never looked stressed, like he was taking a walk in the part, despite the fact that he beat his competitors by seconds! Strong, stable, aggressive yet always elegant.

The best technique ever! He skis like poetry!

Fantastic technique, best present skier!

The Contenders
11 Ivica Kostelić

Excellent skiing technique, the best skier today and presumingly some time soon it will be recorded as one of the best of all times.

Great skiier and great guy but this is way too high for him. A true 1 event specialist mostly and no Olympic Gold.

A man who had countless injuries and surgical operations and never gave up. Remarkable skier and figther.

12 Mikaela Shiffrin

She's had more success at a younger age than any woman in World Cup besides Annemarie Moser-Proell. Annemarie is the only competition for greatest overall woman's skier. Why are they not both top 10 if not top 5? Shiffrin at age 25 already has more career slalom wins than anyone ever - man or woman. Along with 2 Olympic golds and 5 World Championship golds.

She clearly is the best in Slalom. Poetry on skis. She may eventually be the best in the remaining alpine disciplines. Time will tell. But it is clear that even at such a young age, the number of her globes don't lie, that she is the one to beat.

13 Kjetil Andre Aamodt

He has the most medals, thinks that says it all! He also has been top ten in 231 world cup races, more than anyone else! Stenmark has more number 1s, but this guy has been good in every discipline, and he also has been, with his 231 top ten placements, the best one overall in every single race!

When you count medals he is the supreme leader. But he is also the skier to have the most top ten reasults 231, something that shows that he is not only the best skier when it counts as most, but also in evert other single race.

Aamodt became the first male alpine skier to win four gold medals in the Olympics, and is one of only 5 male alpine skiers to have won a World Cup race in all five disciplines.

14 Aksel Lund Svindal

The most talented by far! Had it not been for his injuries he would have stayed great in giant slalom and combined too.

His record speaks for itself-I mean if Hirscher is here then I can't understand why Aksel, who's won a lot more, isn't!

Two amazing comebacks after stood injuries. Great sportsmanship.

15 Janica Kostelić

The Olympics' most medaled female skier with four Olympic Gold and two Silver medals (across the 2002 Salt Lake City and 2006 Turin Games), plus five World Championship Gold medals, three Overall World Cup titles and three Slalom titles, Kostelić burst onto the World Cup tour in Park City at just 16-years-old.
She was 25 years-old when she ended her career in 2007.

30 World Cup wins, 3 overall world cup titles, 6 Olympic medals, 5 world Championship medals. Retired at age 25.

She is best world skier of all time.

16 Pirmin Zurbriggen

He is all-round skier, best his discipline was downhill and super-g, but he was also good in slalom and giant slalom.

I think Pirmin, together with Mark, Ingemar, Toni, Gustav and maybe Alberto represented the top 5 skiers in history...

So smooth like a hot butter knife through butter.

17 Tina Maze

Should be higher since she is probably the most versatile ever. Remember in 2013 she could have won the World Cup for that season in all 6 discipline. Had the last downhill not been cancelled and Shifferin not had an incredible 2nd half of her 2nd slalom run of the world cup finale to come from over a second down on Maze, she does win all 6 that season.

Great skiier! Great in all the events which is rare. Even some of the ones who have won in every discipline aren't truly great in each, but she is.

So much talent in that pint sized little body. Amazing competitor!

18 Marc Girardelli

Best Skier because he didn't have a big association backing him up thru out his career. The ösv deemed him not good enough to be a pro skier so he decided to race for Luxembourg. His trainer staff consisted out of his dad. Pure talent who did it all himself.

Adding this at #10-is everyone here too young to remember the Great Jean Claude-Killey? Cannot believe he is not even mentioned anywhere here! SHAME!

One of the two or three bast skiers in WC history, he left the Austrian team and trained by his Dad... remember the epic battles against Alberto and Pirmin, amazing years for WC skiing

19 Didier Cuche

Best downhill skier. Really appreciated by all others skiers.

Stayed on top for such a long time. The best

20 Benjamin Raich

He is really great skier, perfect technician, he is fantastic in slalom, giant slalom and combination, he is very good in super-g and not bad in downhill.

21 Gustav Thoni

Fantastic memories... his battles against Ingemar represent the history of skiing!

One of the most complete skier ever lived.

The most technical skier ever lived.

22 Lasse Kjus

He won medals (2 gold and 3 silver) in every event in the world championship in Vail in 1999

23 Stein Eriksen
24 Henrik Kristoffersen
25 Steve Podborski
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