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2006
U.S. Ski Team Athlete Bios |
| KIRSTEN CLARK
A Team
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| Ussa Id: 4637138 |
Height: 5-6 ft/
1.65 m |
Weight: 145 lb/
66 kg |
| Birthdate: 4/23/77 |
Birthplace: Portland, ME |
Hometown: Raymond, ME |
| Years on Team: 12th |
School: |
Sponsors: BankNorth Group, Inc.', Booster Strap |
| Equipment: Fischer, Lange, Giro, Bolle, Swix |
Club: CVA/Sugarloaf |
WebSite:
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| Highlights |
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- '03 Worlds super G silver medalist
- 2004 World Cup podiums in DH, giant slalom
- Cup career: 1 win, podiums in DH/SG/GS
- Won '01 Lenzerheide World Cup DH
- 2nd in '03 DH Standings (four podiums)
- 10 top-10s in '03 (five in '02)
- Won unequaled four straight U.S. DH titles, '98-'01 |
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| Biography |
Kirsten Clark got a running start at Maine’s Sugarloaf USA where she began skiing at age 3 and racing at 7. She’s gone from 1994 junior national downhill champion to two-time Olympian, World Championships silver medalist, World Cup winner and the only American to win four straight U.S. downhill titles. Clark says her season-ending crash in Haus, Austria, in January ’04 showed her just how much she loves ski racing and has made her a stronger athlete as she looks toward her third Olympics.
Update
Winter '05 was a returning season for "Clarky" as she came back from multiple injuries suffered in a horrendous crash in Haus, Austria, that cost her the last six weeks of the 2004 season. Conceding it was a "difficult" season, Clark tenaciously held to her plan of slowly-but-surely working her way back into form and was on-target until sickness derailed her at Worlds, costing her a start in the downhill. Still, she had a pair of top-10s in Cortina, which kept her optimistic about her 2006 Olympic goal: "Top three in DH & SG
Start-Up
Clark, who has an older brother, began skiing at 3, racing at 7 at Sugarloaf. She enrolled at Carrabassett Valley Academy, near Sugarloaf, and was the Junior Olympics DH champ in 1994, bronze medalist in SG. In ’97, she won the NorAm giant slalom championship...and then she started concentrating on speed. She raced in three Junior World Championships; best result: fifth in ’96 downhill.
First World Cup
Nov. 16, 1995, at Beaver Creek, CO (DNF in SG)
Olympics/Worlds Experience
2005 Worlds - 10th in SG, 2003 Worlds – Bronze medalist in SG, 19th in DH. 2002 Olympics – 12th in DH, 14th in SG, 26th in GS. 2001 Worlds – 9th in SG, 10th in CO, 12th in DH, 20th in GS. 1999 Worlds – 16th in DH, 22nd in GS. 1998 Olympics – 18th in CO, 28th in DH, DNF in SG. 1997 Worlds – 24th in SG, DNF-2 in GS.
Injuries
Jan. 30, 2004 – Crash during World Cup downhill in Haus, AUT, required reconstruction of her left ACL, strained her right MCL and left her with a broken radius and ulna in her right wrist. She had no major injuries in her 10 years prior to joining the national team.
Personal
Husband Andreas Rickenbach is a former World Cup racer and U.S. coach...Clark’s brother is a coach with the Jackson Hole Ski Club...They’ve got two dogs, Bodie and Cutter, plus Indy, a tiger cat taken out of a “free kittens” box during the Indianapolis 500 by a friend and given to them...Add horseback riding to hiking, gardening, water-skiing and tennis. Clark and Rickenbach enjoy riding at the home of ex-U.S. Coach Ernst Hager... Clark considers herself hardworking and down to earth, not to mention a fan of country music.
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