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Gregor Schlierenzauer
Personal information
Full name	Gregor Schliere
Date of birth	7 January 1990 (1990-01-07) (age 20)
Place of birth	Innsbruck, Austria
Height	177 cm
Professional information
Club	SV Innsbruck–Bergisel
Skis	Fischer
World Cup
Seasons	2006–present
Wins	32
Other podiums	20
Total podiums	52
Infobox last updated on: March 12, 2010

Medal record
Gregor Schlierenzauer
Men's ski jumping
Competitor for  Austria
Olympic Games
Bronze	2010 Vancouver	Individual normal hill
Bronze	2010 Vancouver	Individual large hill
Gold	2010 Vancouver	Team large hill
World Championships
Gold	2007 Sapporo	Team large hill
Silver	2009 Liberec	Individual normal hill
Gold	2009 Liberec	Team large hill
Ski flying
World Championships
Gold	2008 Oberstdorf	Individual
Gold	2008 Oberstdorf	Team

Gregor Schlierenzauer (born 7 January 1990) is an Austrian ski jumper. He began his senior career in 2005–06 with one win and three additional podiums in the Ski Jumping Grand Prix, and made his World Cup debut in 2005—06 World Cup. Despite his young age, Schlierenzauer has 32 World Cup victories,^[1] only four people have won more, and is a reigning World Cup champion. During the 2008—09 World Cup, which he won, he set a series of records,^[2] including breaking Janne Ahonen's record of 12 season victories with 13 victories, and also tying Ahonen, Matti Hautamäki and Thomas Morgenstern's record of six consecutive victories. Schlierenzauer also won gold medals, one team medal at 2007 World Championships, and both individual and team medals at the FIS Ski-Flying World Championships 2008 in Oberstdorf.

Early and personal life

Gregor Schlierenzauer was born on 7 January 1990 in Innsbruck, Tyrol, to Paul and Angelika Schlierenzauer.^[3] The second of three children, he has an older sister, Gloria, and a younger brother, Lukas.^[3] His uncle is Markus Prock, the winner of three Winter Olympic medals in men's luge, who settled him a contract with Fischer Skis in 2001 and a few years later with Red Bull. Schlierenzauer is deaf in the left ear from birth.^[3]

At age eight, Schlierenzauer began training in ski jumping at SV Innsbruck–Bergisel club. He attended an ordinary Austrian grammar school, however, due to tight schedules in both sport and school, he had problems keeping up with his class work.^[3] Schlierenzauer then enrolled at Skigymnasium, a ski-sport training center and boarding secondary school in Austria.^[3] He currently resides in Fulpmes, Tyrol.^[2][3]

Schlierenzauer began competing professionally in the 2005–06 season, in the Continental Cup at age fifteen. In February 2006, he won the gold medal at the Junior World Championships in Kranj, Slovenia and then Alex Pointner, the coach of the Austrian professional team, called him to compete in the World Cup. Schlierenzauer debuted in the Word Cup finishing in 24th place at the Holmenkollen Ski Festival on 12 March 2006.^[4]

Professional career

2006–07 World Cup

On December 3, 2006, Schlierenzauer took his first World Cup in Lillehammer, Norway, and became one of the youngest jumpers to ever win in Lillehammer. He also won in Oberstdorf, Germany, at the Four Hills Tournament 2006-2007. During the Four Hills Tournament, Finnish newspapers claimed that Schlierenzauer was extremely underweight, however, no evidence has ever been found to substantiate this accusation. He won the fourth competition, in Bischofshofen, Austria, on his 17th birtday, but finished the second, after Anders Jacobsen (Norway), and in front of Simon Ammann (Switzerland).

Schlierenzauer took fourth place in World Cup 2006-2007. He was second, but Adam Malysz from Poland ended up taking the first place position from Anders Jacobsen, so Schlierenzauer finished third. His coach thought that Planica was too demanding for a 17-year-old Schlierenzauer, so he didn't compete there and ended finishing fourth, behind Adam Malysz, Anders Jacobsen and Simon Ammann.

2007–08 World Cup

At the beginning of the World Cup 2007-2008, Schlierenzauer took 2nd place on the World Cup list, behind his team mate Thomas Morgenstern. He also took 2nd place in Oberstdorf,Germany, at the Four Hills Tournament 2007-2008. He won 1st place in Garmisch-Partenkirchen,Germany. He took 8th place at the competition in Bischofshofen which was originally to be held in Innsbruck but the competition in Innsbruck was moved to Bischofshofen due to strong winds. He was one of the favorites for winning the Four Hills Tournament 2007-2008, but because of horrible weather conditions, he took the 42nd place in the first series and did not enter the second series. At the end of the Four Hills Tournament ended up in 12th place.

He skipped the competitions in Predazzo, where Tom Hilde from Norway took his first World Cup victory, and in Harrachov. On January 25, 2007, Schlierenzauer took his second World Cup victory in Zakopane, Poland. He also skipped the competition in Sapporo, ruining his chance to take the first place position from his Austrian team mate Thomas Morgenstern.

After two second place finishes in Liberec and an eighth place finish in Willingen, he took part in the FIS Ski Flying World Championships in Oberstdorf, Germany in 2008. After four series of competing, he won the gold medal, on February 23, 2008. The day after, on February 24, the Austrian team of (Schlierenzauer-Morgenstern-Koch-Kofler) won the gold in the team competition.

He also took part in the 2008 Nordic Tournament. He took the second and fourth place at the two competitions in Kuopio and in Lahti which was moved to Kuopio because of bad weather). Winning at the competitions in Lillehammer and Oslo, he won the 2008 Nordic Tournament.

After consecutively winning the last four individual competitions of the season, Schlierenzauer ranks second in overall the World Cup 2007-2008 standings at 233 points behind his team mate and friend Thomas Morgenstern. In March 2008, he improved the individual record of Austria on flying hills to 233.5 meters, which was also the longest jump of Planica 2008 ski jumping events.

2008–09 World Cup

On February 11, 2009, Schlierenzauer became only the fourth jumper to win 6 consecutive World Cup events, tying the record held by Austrian teammate Thomas Morgenstern and Finns Janne Ahonen and Matti Hautamäki. The run of victories came to end at Oberstdorf in Ski Flying on February 14, when Schlierenzauer could only manage 8th.

On February 21 he won a silver in the individual normal hill event at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 in Liberec behind fellow Austrian and Four Hills winner Wolfgang Loitzl. One week later, Schlierenzauer won gold in the team large hill event.

He returned to winning ways in individual competition on March 8 at Lahti, Finland taking his number of wins to 11 for the season, one behind Janne Ahonen's record of 12 wins in one season.

On March 20 he won the ski flying event at Planica, taking his number of wins to 13 for the season record, record of 20 podiums in a season and clinching the 2008-09 world cup title with two flying events left to run. He also achieved a record of 2083 points in World Cup in one season and first who came over 2000.

Career highlights

References

• Official Website
• Gregor Schlierenzauer at the International Ski Federation