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Ingemar Stenmark was a Swedish Slalom and Giant Slalom skier, competing for Fjällvinden Tärnaby. He is regarded as one of the most prominent Swedish sportsmen all-time.
Born in Joesjö, Storumans municipality, in Lappland (in the Province of Norrland). His family moved to nearby Tärnaby when he was four years old, where he became neighbors with another little boy, Stig Strand, who would go on to win the World Cup Slalom title.
Ingemar Stenmark is considered by many to be the greatest alpine skier of all time. Stenmark has won more alpine ski competitions than any other man with a total of 86 races in the Alpine Skiing World Cup. He accomplished this feat when there were only 3 disciplines in alpine competition (downhill, giant slalom, slalom) and fewer total races in a season than today when there are 4 disciplines (downhill, super G, giant slalom, slalom). Stenmark rarely competed in downhill competitions since he was not comfortable with speeds in excess of 120 km/h (80 mi/h).
He won the entire Cup three times, 1976-1978. He has 4 of the top 10 most successful seasons ever in giant slalom competition. Stenmark won every giant slalom race during the 1977/1978 (7 for 7) and 1978/1979 seasons (10 for 10). He won every giant slalom race during the 1979/1980 season except for one (10 for 11). He has 6 of the top 10 most successful seasons ever in slalom competition. He won every slalom race during the 1975/1976 season (7 for 7) and almost every slalom race in the 1976/1977 (9 for 10), 1981/1982 (8 for 9), 1979/1980 (7 for 8), 1974/1975 (7 for 8), and 1980/1981 (8 of 10) seasons.
Including Alpine Skiing World Cup, FIS Championships and Olympic competition, Stenmark finished as follows:
1st place: 92 times, 2nd place: 45 times, 3rd place: 28 times, 4th place: 10 times, 5th place: 13 times, 6th place: 10 times, 7th place: 8 times, 8th place: 7 times, 9th place: 5 times, 10th place: 4 times
During the years from 1976-1978 Stenmark, along side Björn Borg, was the "national icon" of sports, and Swedish everyday life came to complete standstills whenever "Ingemar" was heading down the slopes. This was not changed by the fact that he - for tax reasons - soon moved to Monaco. On December 26, 2004 he survived the Indian Ocean earthquake while on vacation in Thailand.
Stenmark displayed overall athletic prowess in winning the 1976 Swedish Superstars championship.
