Patrick_Ortlieb
Patrick Ortlieb (born 20 May 1967) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist from Austria.[1][2] A specialist in the speed events, he was also a world champion in the downhill event.[3]
Born in Bregenz in Vorarlberg, Ortlieb started skiing early at the age of three. He won the downhill event at the 1992 Winter Olympics in France, gathered twenty World Cup podiums (sixty top tens), and was World Champion in 1996 in downhill. At the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, he finished fourth in the downhill at Kvitfjell.[4][5][6][7] A month earlier, he won the famed downhill on the Hahnenkamm in Kitzbühel, Austria.[8]
Five years later in January 1999, Ortlieb's racing career ended at age 31 after a serious crash during a practice run on the same slope at Kitzbühel. He suffered a compound fracture of the right femur and a badly dislocated and slightly fractured right hip after losing control and crashing into the safety nets at the Hausbergkante (mountain house corner).[9] Later in the year, he was elected to the National Council of Austria for the Freedom Party of Austria, where he stayed for three years.
He currently runs a four-star hotel, named Hotel Montana, in Lech am Arlberg in Vorarlberg.
He is the father of fellow alpine skier Nina Ortlieb.[10]
