Kerrin Lee-Gartner

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Kerrin Lee-Gartner
Personal information
Born (1966-09-21) September 21, 1966 (age 57)
Trail, British Columbia, Canada
OccupationAlpine skier
Height1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)
Skiing career
DisciplinesDownhill, Super-G, giant slalom, Combined
ClubRed Mountain Racers
World Cup debutMarch 10, 1985 (age 18)
(first top 15 finish)
RetiredMarch 1994 (age 27)
Olympics
Teams3 – (1988, 1992, 1994)
Medals1 (1 gold)
World Championships
Teams3 – (1989, 1991, 1993)
Medals0
World Cup
Seasons9 – (1985, 1987–94)
Wins0
Podiums6 – (4 DH, 2 SG)
Overall titles0 – (9th in 1993)
Discipline titles0 – (3rd in DH, 1993)
Medal record
Women's alpine skiing
Representing Canada
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1992 Albertville Downhill

Kerrin Anne Lee-Gartner (born September 21, 1966) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medallist from Canada.

Born in Trail, British Columbia, she grew up in Rossland and raced as a youngster at Red Mountain. Lee-Gartner started skiing for the Canadian Women's Ski Team in 1982, but suffered a number of knee operations over the years including two complete reconstructions. She attained her first World Cup podium early in December 1990, then had five more top-six finishes early in the 1992 season entering the Winter Olympics in Albertville, France.

On the Roc de Fer course at Méribel, Lee-Gartner won the gold medal in the Olympic downhill. Only 0.06 seconds behind was silver medallist Hilary Lindh of the U.S., for a North American 1–2 finish.[1] Through 2018, it remains the only victory in an Olympic downhill by a Canadian.[2] She finished sixth in the Olympic super-G and had two more podiums after the Olympics, both in North America, to finish up the 1992 season.

Lee-Gartner's next season in 1993 was her best on the World Cup circuit, with two podiums and twelve top tens. She finished third in the downhill standings and ninth overall. At the World Championships in Japan, she was fourth in the super-G and ninth in the downhill.

Leading up to the 1994 Winter Olympics, Lee-Gartner was admittedly affected by the death of her friend Ulrike Maier after a crash in a downhill race in late January.[3][4] At the Olympics in Norway, she finished eighth in the super-G and 19th in the downhill, and retired from international competition a month later, at the end of the 1994 World Cup season.

Lee-Gartner is currently a television broadcaster with CBC Sports in Canada. She also assisted the BBC with coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.[5]

World Cup results[edit]

Season standings[edit]

Season Age Overall Slalom Giant
 slalom 		 Super-G Downhill Combined
1985 18 82 – 43 — — —
1986 19
1987 20 77 – – – 32 —
1988 21 48 – – 26 10 16
1989 22 51 – – – 24 22
1990 23 49 – – – 14 —
1991 24 16 – – 16 9 —
1992 25 14 – 29 7 4 —
1993 26 9 – 26 7 3 19
1994 27 34 – 34 11 28 —

Race podiums[edit]

  • 6 podiums – (4 DH, 2 SG)
Season Date Location Discipline Place
1991 Dec 28, 1990 Altenmarkt, Austria Downhill 3rd
1992 Mar 7, 1992 Vail, CO, USA Downhill 2nd
Mar 15, 1992 Panorama, British Columbia, Canada Super-G 2nd
1993 Dec 12, 1992 Vail, CO, USA Downhill 3rd
Feb 26, 1993    Veysonnaz, Switzerland Downhill 2nd
1994 Jan 15, 1994 Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy   Super-G 3rd

World Championship results[edit]

  Year    Age   Slalom   Giant 
 slalom 		 Super-G Downhill Combined
1989 22 — DNF 20 7 9
1991 24 — 24 16 7 DNF SL
1993 26 — 23 4 9 17

Olympic results[edit]

  Year    Age   Slalom   Giant 
 slalom 		 Super-G Downhill Combined
1988 21 — 17 23 15 8
1992 25 — — 6 1 DQ SL1
1994 27 — — 8 19 —

Video[edit]

  • CBC interview – following her Olympic gold medal run, February 1992

Personal[edit]

During May 2018, Lee-Gartner was part of a group of four female athletes, including Cassie Campbell, Jen Kish and Fran Rider to publicly pledge their brain to a Canadian research centre. The posthumous donation shall be made to Toronto Western Hospital’s Canadian Concussion Centre to further research on the effect of trauma on women's brains.[6]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "North Americans conquer downhill". Reading (PA) Eagle. wire services. February 1992.
  2. ^ Carpenter, Dave (February 1992). "Canada, U.S. win medals in downhill". Free-Lance Star. Fredericksburg, VA. Associated Press. p. C1.
  3. ^ "1992 ski winner may skip Games". Wilmington (NC) Star-News. wire services. February 2, 1994. p. 3C.
  4. ^ "Canadian to defend downhill title". Eugene Register-Guard. February 19, 1994. p. 6C.
  5. ^ Sekeres, Matthew (June 8, 2009). "Where are they now? Kerrin Lee-Gartner". Globe and Mail. Retrieved March 11, 2014.
  6. ^ Morgan Campbell (May 10, 2018). "Four high-profile Canadians to donate their brains for research into concussion effects in women". Toronto Star. Retrieved August 3, 2018.

External links[edit]

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