Alberto Tomba

Alberto Tomba
	1995)
Discipline titles	8 (4 GS, 4 SL)
Medal record
Men's alpine skiing
Representing Italy
World Cup race podiums
International alpine ski competitions
Olympic Games
World Championships

Alberto Tomba (born 19 December 1966 in

World Cup season titles: four in slalom, four in giant slalom, and one overall title. He was popularly called Tomba la Bomba ("Tomba the Bomb").^[2]

Early years

Alberto Tomba was born in

dirt biking, but he found that his greatest passion was for skiing. Later in life, in 1988, his father Franco promised him a Ferrari if he won a gold medal that year and, as he celebrated his first gold at the bottom of the slope, Alberto told his father and everyone else who was watching on TV that he wanted the car to be red.^[3]

In 1984 he took part in the

1986, and later that winter he won bronze in the giant slalom at the 1987 World Championships in Crans-Montana, Switzerland - the only medal won by the Italian team at that World Championships.^[1]

Rise to fame

On 27 November

1987, Tomba scored his first World Cup victory, in a slalom at Sestriere, Italy (with starting bib number 25). Two days later he won the giant slalom, beating his idol, Ingemar Stenmark. It was now clear that Tomba was a force to be reckoned with within the alpine skiing world.^[4]

He went on to win nine races that 1988 season, including a slalom win at Madonna di Campiglio where he beat the second-placed finisher by 1.34 seconds, shouting "I am the new messiah of skiing!" as he crossed the finish line.

1989, despite never finishing better than fourth.^[5]

At the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Tomba won gold medals in slalom and giant slalom.^[6] In the first run of the GS, he finished an impressive 1.14 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor. "Tomba la Bomba" ("Tomba the Bomb"), as he was known, also earned some notoriety by asking out East German figure skater Katarina Witt, whom he met again later on.

Tomba was not as successful in the following two seasons, winning a total of four World Cup races. At the 1989 World Championships in Vail, Colorado, he could do no better than sixth place in the super G and seventh in the giant slalom. From 1989 to the end of his career, Tomba was surrounded by his own technical staff managed by former Olympic champion Gustav Thöni and strength and conditioning coach Giorgio d'Urbano, who worked with him for ten seasons.

Tomba was temporarily put out of action in 1990 when he crashed in a World Cup race in

1991 season, Tomba returned to his winning ways, winning the giant slalom World Cup title for a second time while finishing fourth in the slalom standings. He ended 4th in slalom at the 1991 World Championships at Saalbach-Hinterglemm (Austria) and crashed in the second giant slalom run after having clocked the fastest time in the first leg, handing the victory to Austria's Rudolf Nierlich, the two-time winner at Vail, Colorado, two years earlier. In September 1991, he also met former Miss Italy, Martina Colombari

, whom he dated for several years.

Tomba's career reached its second peak during the

1992 season with nine victories and fifteen podiums, and he once again captured the season-long discipline titles in both his technical specialties. His duel with Paul Accola for the overall World Cup crown extended until the very end of the season and the Finals at Crans-Montana, but the Swiss skier scoring points in all disciplines including downhill and combined ultimately prevailed. At the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, Tomba won what was to be his last gold medal at Val d'Isère

, in the giant slalom, and picked up a silver in the slalom. In Val d'Isère, he became the first alpine champion to successfully defend an Olympic title when he won the giant slalom ahead of Marc Girardelli.

The

1993

season.

Overall World Cup champion

World Cup

won 1995.

Tomba was back to his usual ways at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. After his slalom run, he was seemingly out of medal contention, (placed 12th) 1.84 seconds behind leader Thomas Stangassinger (and 1.00 behind place 3, Peter Roth), but in the second run he recovered to second place and won the silver medal.

It soon became apparent that the

1975

.

At the 1996 World Championships, Tomba finally added the final missing pieces to his trophy case, winning two gold medals at Sierra Nevada, Spain. His GS victory came thanks to a second-run rally from 0.81 seconds behind.^[8]

After the 1996 World Championships, Tomba began contemplating retirement. He decided to come back for one more World Championship, held in 1997 on his home snow in Sestriere. He was disqualified in the giant slalom and had a disappointing first run in the slalom, but an excellent second run was good enough for his last major medal, a bronze. He decided to continue competing for one more year.

Tomba's performance at the

Nagano was a sign that his career was winding to a close: for the first time in his Olympic career, he failed to medal after crashing in giant slalom. He suffered a painful injury and was not able to start in the second slalom run after losing much time in the first leg.^[9]

Alberto Tomba retired at the end of the

1998 season,^[10]

but not before winning a last World Cup race at the Finals at Crans-Montana where he grabbed the slalom, becoming the only alpine male skier to have won at least one World Cup race per year for 11 consecutive seasons.

Later in life

After retiring from competitions, Tomba made numerous appearances on Italian television broadcasts, and in 2000 he made his acting debut in the crime film Alex l'ariete, directed by Damiano Damiani; the movie, however, was met with little success and was unanimously panned by movie critics.

At the

FICTS "Hall of Fame".^[11]

Today, he says he likes sleeping and is passionate about automatic car washes where he likes to go at night when there's no queue.[12]

Medals

Winter Olympic Games

1988: gold in giant slalom, gold in slalom at Calgary, Alberta, Canada (Nakiska).
1992: gold in giant slalom, silver in slalom at Albertville, France (Val d'Isère).
1994: silver in slalom at Lillehammer, Norway (Hafjell).

Alpine World Ski championships

1987: bronze in giant slalom at Crans Montana, Switzerland.
1996: gold in giant slalom, gold in slalom at Sierra Nevada, Spain.
1997: bronze in slalom at Sestriere, Italy

Alpine skiing World Cup

50 victories (35 in slalom, 15 in giant slalom), including seven consecutive slalom wins in the 1995 season.
28-second-place finishes
11 third-place finishes

World Cup results

Season standings

Season	Age	Overall	Slalom	Giant slalom	Super G	Downhill	Combined
1986	19	51	39	23	19	—	—
1987	20	15	24	9	18	—	—
1988	21	2	1	1	8	—	—
1989	22	3	2	7	7	—	—
1990	23	9	2	14	—	—	—
1991	24	2	6	1	—	—	—
1992	25	2	1	1	43	—	—
1993	26	5	2	2	—	—	—
1994	27	3	1	11	—	—	—
1995	28	1	1	1	—	—	—
1996	29	5	2	8	—	—	—
1997	30	25	5	—	—	—	—
1998	31	14	7	13	—	—	—

Season titles

9 titles (1 overall, 4 giant slalom, 4 slalom)

Season	Discipline
1988	Giant slalom
1988	Slalom
1991	Giant slalom
1992	Giant slalom
1992	Slalom
1994	Slalom
1995	Overall
	Giant slalom
	Slalom

Race victories

50 wins (15
GS, 35 SL
)

88 podiums (31 GS, 57 SL)[13]

Season	Date	Location	Race
1988	27 November 1987	Sestriere, Italy	Slalom
	29 November 1987	Sestriere, Italy	Giant slalom
	13 December 1987	Alta Badia, Italy	Giant slalom
	16 December 1987	Madonna di Campiglio, Italy	Slalom
	20 December 1987	Kranjska Gora, Slovenia	Slalom
	17 January 1988	Bad Kleinkirchheim, Austria	Slalom
	19 January 1988	Saas Fee , Switzerland	Giant slalom
	19 March 1988	Åre , Sweden	Slalom
	22 March 1988	Oppdal, Norway	Slalom
1989	11 December 1988	Madonna di Campiglio, Italy	Slalom
1990	29 November 1989	Waterville Valley, US	Slalom
	8 March 1990	Geilo, Norway	Slalom
	12 March 1990	Sälen, Sweden	Slalom
1991	11 December 1990	Sestriere, Italy	Slalom
	16 December 1990	Alta Badia, Italy	Giant slalom
	21 December 1990	Kranjska Gora, Slovenia	Giant slalom
	1 March 1991	Lillehammer, Norway	Giant slalom
	9 March 1991	Aspen, USA	Giant slalom
	21 March 1991	Waterville Valley, USA	Giant slalom
1992	23 November 1991	Park City, USA	Giant slalom
	24 November 1991	Park City, USA	Slalom
	10 December 1991	Sestriere, Italy	Slalom
	15 December 1991	Alta Badia, Italy	Giant slalom
	5 January 1992	Kranjska Gora, Slovenia	Slalom
	19 January 1992	Kitzbühel, Austria	Slalom
	26 January 1992	Wengen, Switzerland	Slalom
	20 March 1992	Crans-Montana, Switzerland	Giant slalom
	22 March 1992	Crans-Montana, Switzerland	Slalom
1993	9 January 1993	Garmisch, Germany	Slalom
1994	5 December 1993	Stoneham, Canada	Slalom
	14 December 1993	Sestriere, Italy	Slalom
	30 January 1994	Chamonix, France	Slalom
	6 February 1994	Garmisch, Germany	Slalom
1995	4 December 1994	Tignes, France	Slalom
	12 December 1994	Sestriere, Italy	Slalom
	20 December 1994	Lech am Arlberg , Austria	Slalom
	21 December 1994	Lech am Arlberg , Austria	Slalom
	22 December 1994	Alta Badia, Italy	Giant slalom
	6 January 1995	Kranjska Gora, Slovenia	Giant slalom
	8 January 1995	Garmisch, Germany	Slalom
	15 January 1995	Kitzbühel, Austria	Slalom
	22 January 1995	Wengen, Switzerland	Slalom
	4 February 1995	Adelboden, Switzerland	Giant slalom
	18 March 1995	Bormio, Italy	Giant slalom
1996	19 December 1995	Madonna di Campiglio, Italy	Slalom
	22 December 1995	Kranjska Gora, Slovenia	Slalom
	7 January 1996	Flachau, Austria	Slalom
1997	30 January 1997	Schladming, Austria	Slalom
1998	8 January 1998	Schladming, Austria	Slalom
1998	15 March 1998	Crans-Montana, Switzerland	Slalom