Slalom standout Kristina Koznick retires from World Cup ski racing after 16 seasons

Slalom standout Kristina Koznick retires from World Cup ski racing after 16 seasonsVeteran American World Cup star Kristina Koznick retired from the sport on Monday after 14 seasons on the World Cup.

In an e-mailed statement, Koznick said, “It was a difficult decision, but I knew it was the right one the moment I made it. I have learned so much about myself over the past 15 years and with all the ups and downs in my career I wouldn’t go back and change a thing.

“It has been an invaluable time for me. I didn’t finish my career walking away with the gold medal I was hoping for, but I will say, that I did end my career on what no doubt will be one of my proudest moments.”

Her most lasting image may have been her run in February at the Winter Olympics in Sestriere, where she insisted on competing despite a knee injury that left her wearing a brace and racing on a shredded ligament that doctors guessed was no thicker than a strand of hair.

”I wanted the fairy tale,” she said then. ”I stood up there and I wanted to walk away with a medal. I knew I could write a book about it if I did.”

She finished the first run but, trailing by more than three seconds and risking making the injury considerably worse, she didn’t go down for the second.

After the Olympics, she briefly considered trying a comeback, but decided against it.

She finished the season ranked 13th in the World Cup slalom standings, 28th in giant slalom and 31st overall.

She was fourth in the slalom standings in 2004-05 with three podium appearances and five top-six results. The product of Buck Hill in Minnesota retires with six career World Cup wins. She was the 1993 Ski Racing U.S. female junior alpine skier of the year, and took home Ski Racing’s top alpine female honor in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2002.

In addition to her six World Cup wins, Koznick had 14 other top-three finishes and a whopping total of 54 top 10s during her 14 years on the circuit. She also won five U.S. slalom championships, featuring a streak of four straight from 1995-98, and eight national junior titles.

“Kristina had some incredible results in slalom,” said U.S. Alpine Director Jesse Hunt. “Twice she finished the season ranked second in the World Cup slalom standings and top 10 in the overall standings [’98, ’02]. She really put us on the map in slalom in recent years, which was a major contribution for us.”

Koznick’s contributions included consistent performances at the international level, where she competed on six U.S. World Championships teams and was the top U.S. female World Cup slalom points earner for 11 seasons — from 1995-2005.

Koznick said, “I know I was the top U.S. slalom skier over 10 years, so that says a lot about my career, but it hasn’t sunk in … yet.

“Any athlete wants to be better, and to do better, and I’m still in that frame of mind. I haven’t gotten to the point of reflecting. Maybe after a year and I can see from a distance.”

She hopes to stay involved in skiing at some level, possibly coaching, TV commentary or writing. She and longtime personal coach Dan Stripp plan to marry in September.

“It was a really hard decision,” she said Tuesday from her home in suburban Minneapolis. “Truthfully, I could ski race until I’m 50; I love the racing part. But, on the inside, every time I go home, or stop and have a moment to myself, something tells me, ‘Maybe it’s time to move on.’

Koznick, who came out of Erich Sailer’s renowned gate-running program at Buck Hill in the Twin Cities, made her debut as a 15-year-old at the 1991 World Cup Finals at Waterville Valley, N.H. She first competed in the J2 Junior Olympics at New Hampshire’s Sunapee Ski Area then headed to the J1 JOs in Lake Placid, N.Y. — with a brief detour to the make her World Cup entrance, finishing a split-second out of the top 30 in the first run of a slalom. Two years later she was on the U.S. Ski Team for the ’03 season. A torn ligament in her left knee erased her 1994 season, eliminating the chance to compete in the Lillehammer Olympics.

Koznick and Stripp will be moving to Vail, Colorado, where Stripp will start a new job next month as a juniors coach for Ski and Snowboard Club Vail. Their small wedding will take place in Las Vegas at the home of Koznick’s father, Jeff.

— Ski Racing staff report