Carlo Janka wins Skieur d'Or from International Ski Journalists

SOELDEN – Switzerland’s Carlo Janka has been elected the “Skieur d’Or” (Golden Skier) for 2010 by the members of the International Association of Ski Journalists (AIJS) during a vote that took place in the weeks before the Ski World Cup opening here at Soelden, Austria. He received half of the votes of the reporters from all around the globe.

Giant slalom world champion at Val d’Isere in 2009 and Olympic champion at Whistler last February, the 24-year-old Swiss from Obersaxen, in Grisons, also clinched the overall World Cup standings in March during the Finals in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. He is the 34th athlete to get that award from the Ski Press since its creation back in 1963.

Lindsey Vonn was last year’s winner of the Skieur d’Or; she was just the 10th woman in history to win the award.

In a release, the journalists said they appreciate the class and the character of Janka, nicknamed “Iceman” by some of his
colleagues because ofhis coolness and strong nerves. A winner in several disciplines in the last two years, Janka says he aims to keep on accumulating big wins in the coming winters.

The last Swiss who received the Skieur d’Or were Pirmin Zurbriggen in 1990 and Vreni Schneider in 1995.