Sarah Schleper

Sarah Schleper
American alpine skier Sarah Schleper after the first run of the giant slalom in Semmering (Austria) on 28 December 2010.
Country United States
 Mexico
Full nameSarah Schleper de Gaxiola
Born (1979-02-19) February 19, 1979 (age 45)
Glenwood Springs, Colorado, U.S.
Spouse(s)Federico Gaxiola
World Cup career
Seasons1995-
Wins1

Sarah Schleper[1] (born February 19, 1979), also known as Sarah Schleper de Gaxiola,[1] is an alpine skier whose career started in 1995. She has represented both the United States and Mexico at the Winter Olympics. She has dual American-Mexican citizenship via her marriage to a Mexican citizen.

Personal life

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Her father is Buzz Schleper, who owns a ski shop in Vail, Colorado.[2] She is married to Mexican Federico Gaxiola and acquired Mexican citizenship in April 2014. She is now a dual citizen and lives in Vail, and Mexico.[3]

Career

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Her lone World Cup victory was at a slalom event in Switzerland in 2005.[4] Her best finish at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships was seventh in the slalom event at Santa Caterina (near Bormio) in 2005.

Schleper also competed in four Winter Olympics for USA,[1] earning her best finish of tenth in the slalom event at Turin in 2006. Schleper was named to the US team for the 2010 Winter Olympics in late 2009. Schleper announced her retirement shortly before competing in her last world cup slalom on December 29, 2011, in Lienz, Austria.[5] In her career spanning a total of 15 years, she took part in 186 World Cup races and achieved four podium finishes and one victory.

As has become traditional—a skier in her retirement race can wear any apparel she desires—Schleper wore a thin brown summer dress, bare-armed and bare-legged, and stopped halfway down the course to pick up her 4-year-old son. She then skied the rest of the course with the boy in her arms, to the enjoyment of the crowd and fellow skiers. Lindsey Vonn gave Schleper a long hug in the finish area, and race organizers presented her with a huge bouquet of roses.

After acquiring Mexican citizenship in April 2014, she came out of retirement in June 2014, to represent Mexico.[3] She raced for Mexico in the women's giant slalom at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2015.[6] When she joined the Mexican ski team, she doubled the size of the team, serving alongside Prince Hubertus of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, a long time sole representative for Mexico at the world circuit.[1]

Schleper competed for Mexico at the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics. Her Olympic effort is self-funded. She represents one of two athletes for Alpine Mexico, the other being Rodolfo Dickson.[1][7][8][9][10] She qualified for the 2018 Olympics, alongside alpinist Rodolfo Dickson, freestyler Roberto Franco, and cross-country skier German Madrazo.[11][12]

World Cup results

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Season standings

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Season Age  Overall   Slalom  Giant
 slalom 		 Super-G Downhill Combined
1998 19 102 — 46 — — —
1999 20 90 51 43 — — —
2000 21 50 21 25 — — —
2001 22 23 11 21 — — —
2002 23 22 10 20 — — —
2003 24 22 12 21 — — —
2004 25 17 11 12 — — —
2005 26 17 5 20 — — —
2006 27 65 27 36 — — —
2007 28 did not compete: birth her child
2008 29
2009 30 97 55 41 — — —
2010 31 54 26 20 — — —
2011 32 53 30 22 — — —
2012 33 107 — 48 — — —

Race podiums

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  • 1 win – (1 SL)
  • 4 podiums – (3 SL, 1 GS)
Season Date Location Discipline Place
2001 10 Dec 2000 Italy Sestriere, Italy Slalom 2nd
30 Dec 2000 Austria Semmering, Austria Giant slalom 3rd
2004 13 Mar 2004 Italy Sestriere, Italy Slalom 2nd
2005 12 Mar 2005  Switzerland  Lenzerheide, Switzerland Slalom 1st

World Championship results

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  Year    Age   Slalom   Giant 
 slalom 		 Super-G Downhill Combined
Representing the  United States
2001 22 DNF1 DNF1 — — —
2003 24 DNF1 DNF1 — — —
2005 26 7 13 — — —
2009 30 28 31 — — —
2011 32 DNF2 50 — — —
Representing  Mexico
2015 36 DNF1 50 — — —
2017 38 DNF1 41 37 38 27
2019 40 — 42 29 — —
2021 42 — 41 — — —
2023 44 — DSQ1 — — —

Olympic results

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  Year    Age   Slalom   Giant 
 slalom 		 Super-G Downhill Combined
Representing  United States
1998 19 22 DNF2 — — —
2002 23 DNF1 21 — — —
2006 27 10 DNF2 — — —
2010 31 16 14 — — —
Representing  Mexico
2018 39 — DNF2 41 — —
2022 43 — 37 35 — —

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Tik Root (March 6, 2015). "Mariachi Man: Prince Hubertus and the Mexican ski team he helped create". Sports Illustrated.
  2. ^ John O’Neill (March 13, 2016). "How to be a 'ski bum': Buzz Schleper has built a successful business from catering to the ski crowds". VailDaily weekly. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  3. ^ a b Meyer, John (June 9, 2014). "Alpine ski racer Sarah Schleper coming out of retirement at age 35". Denver Post. Denver, Colorado, United States. Retrieved October 25, 2014.
  4. ^ "FIS-Ski - resultats". Archived from the original on July 30, 2012.
  5. ^ The Washington Post[dead link‍]
  6. ^ "Double bonus for dual citizen Schleper at worlds". Yahoo Sports. February 13, 2015. Retrieved February 13, 2015.
  7. ^ Adriana Terrazas (October 31, 2017). "'Tres' company for the Mexico ski team in the Winter Olympics". ESPN.
  8. ^ "Tres mexicanos acudirán a Pyeongchang 2018" (in Spanish). Esportes.MX. May 18, 2017. Archived from the original on February 17, 2018. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
  9. ^ "México estará presente en los Juegos Olímpicos Invernales de 2018" (in Spanish). SIPSE.com. August 11, 2017.
  10. ^ Carlos Alberto Cruz (February 23, 2017). "México con cuatro o cinco atletas a Pyeongchang 2018". El Big Data.
  11. ^ Luis Gomez (February 9, 2018). "How to root for Team Mexico in the 2018 Winter Olympics". San Diego Union-Tribune.
  12. ^ Abigail Parra (February 7, 2018). "Delegación mexicana en PyeonChang 2018, la más grande desde 1992" (in Spanish). mediotiempo.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sarah Schleper.
Olympic Games
Preceded by Flagbearer for  Mexico
(with Donovan Carrillo)
Beijing 2022 		Succeeded by
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