Pernilla Wiberg (born 15 October 1970) is a Swedish former alpine ski racer and businesswoman. She competed on the World Cup circuit between 1990 and 2002, where she became one of the few all-event winners. Having won two Olympic gold medals, four World Championships and one World Cup overall title, she is one of the most successful alpine ski racers of the 1990s. On club level, she represented Norrköpings SK. She was born in Norrköping.

Career

After competing without much success in two junior world championships in 1987 and 1988, Wiberg got her international breakthrough in the early 1990s. In her World Cup debut in Vemdalen, Sweden, on 13 March 1990, she finished 5th in slalom, and five days later she finished 3rd in giant slalom in Åre. In the following season of 1991, she claimed three World Cup victories and a giant slalom gold medal at the 1991 World Championships in Saalbach. Her Alpine World Championship gold was the first for a Scandinavian woman in 33 years. Until the end of her career in 2002, Wiberg won an additional 21 World Cup races, earning her a total of 24 World Cup race victories, including at least one victory in each of the five different alpine disciplines. In five World Championships she won six medals: four gold, one silver, and one bronze.

Olympics

Wiberg won the giant slalom gold in the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville and the combination gold medal in 1994 at Lillehammer. At both of these Olympics, Wiberg was the most successful Swedish athlete. In 1998 in Nagano, she won the downhill silver medal; Wiberg holds this achievement to be the best of her career. In her final Olympics in 2002 at age 31, she failed to reach the top ten and finished 14th in downhill and 12th in super-G.

Awards

In 1991, Wiberg was awarded the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal. The jury's motivation was: "For the sensational giant slalom victory in the World Championships, secured through a bold and skillful second leg." The same year, 1991, she was awarded Jerring Award, an award she received again the following year.

International Olympic Committee

Wiberg was elected a member of the International Olympic Committee in 2002 and served an eight-year mandate until 2010. She was a member of the following commissions: Athletes’ (2002–), Sport and Environment (2002), Ethics (2003–), Coordination for the XXI Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver in 2010 (2003–), Nominations (2003–). On 2 September 2008, IOC announced that Wiberg would chair a commission appointed by the president of IOC, Jacques Rogge. The commission would analyse the projects of the shortlisted cities candidating for 1st Winter Youth Olympic Games.

Activism

Pernilla is today a member of the ‘Champions for Peace’ club, a group of 114 (as of 29 November 2018) famous elite athletes committed to serving peace in the world through sport, created by Peace and Sport, a Monaco-based international organization.

Other Champions for Peace members include Ukrainian former pole vaulter, Sergey Bubka, British long-distance runner, Paula Radcliffe, and Serbian tennis player, Novak Djokovic.

Personal life

Together with her husband Bødvar Bjerke, Wiberg has two children; Axel (b. 2003) and Sofia (b. 2007). Since 1995, she lives in Monaco.

World Cup results

Season titles

5 titles (1 overall, 1 slalom, 3 combined)

{| class="wikitable"

! Season

! Discipline

|-

| align=center | 1994 || align=center | Combined

|-

| align=center | 1995 || align=center | Combined

|-

| rowspan=3 align=center | 1997 || align=center | Overall

|-

| align=center | Slalom

|-

| align=center | Combined

|}

Season standings

{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center"

!Season !! Age !! Overall !! Slalom !! Giant<br>slalom !! Super-G !! Downhill !!Combined

|-

| 1990 || 19 || 45 || 17 || — || — || — || —

|-

| 1991 || 20 || 7 || bgcolor="silver" |2 || bgcolor="cc9966" |3 || — || — || —

|-

| 1992 || 21 || 5 || bgcolor="silver" |2 || 5 || 28 || — || —

|-

| 1993 || 22 || 24 || 11 || 17 || 30 || 43 || —

|-

| 1994 || 23 || bgcolor="silver" |2 || bgcolor="silver" |2 || 11 || 5 || 11 || bgcolor="gold" | 1

|-

| 1995 || 24 || 6 || bgcolor="silver" |2 || 38 || 13 || 12 || bgcolor="gold" | 1

|-

| 1996 || 25 || 8 || bgcolor="cc9966" |3 || 34 || 19 || 10 || —

|-

| 1997 || 26 || bgcolor="gold" | 1 || bgcolor="gold" | 1 || 5 || bgcolor="cc9966" |3 || 4 || bgcolor="gold" | 1

|-

| 1998 || 27 || 35 || 24 || 28 || 36 || 29 || 11

|-

| 1999 || 28 || 5 || bgcolor="silver" |2 || 22 || 8 || 14 || —

|-

| 2000 || 29 || 33 || 28 || 41 || 21 || 22 || —

|-

| 2001 || 30 || 59 || — || — || 23 || 48 || —

|-

| 2002 || 31 || 23 || — || 57 || 13 || 10 || 12

|}

Race victories

24 race victories (2 downhill, 3 Super-G, 2 giant slalom, 14 slalom, 3 combined)

{| class="wikitable"

! Season

! Date

! Location

! Race

|-

| align=center rowspan=3 | 1991 || 7 January 1991 || Bad Kleinkirchheim, Austria || align=center | Slalom

|-

| 10 March 1991 || Lake Louise, Canada || align=center | Giant slalom

|-

| 20 March 1991 || Waterville Valley, U.S. || align=center | Slalom

|-

| align=center rowspan=1 | 1992 || 28 February 1992 || Narvik, Norway || align=center | Giant slalom

|-

| align=center rowspan=1 | 1993 || 6 December 1992 || Steamboat Springs, USA || align=center | Slalom

|-

| align=center rowspan=4 | 1994 || 12 December 1993 || Veysonnaz, Switzerland || align=center | Slalom

|-

| 6 January 1994 || Morzine, France || align=center | Slalom

|-

| 17 January 1994 || Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy || align=center | Super-G

|-

| 5 February 1994 || Sierra Nevada, Spain || align=center | Combined

|-

| align=center rowspan=2 | 1995 || rowspan=2 | 12 March 1995 || rowspan=2 | Lenzerheide, Switzerland || align=center | Slalom

|-

| align=center | Combined

|-

| align=center rowspan=2 | 1996 || 22 December 1995 || Veysonnaz, Switzerland || align=center | Slalom

|-

| 29 December 1995 || Semmering, Austria || align=center | Slalom

|-

| align=center rowspan=9 | 1997 || 1 December 1996 || Lake Louise, Canada || align=center | Super-G

|-

| 28 December 1996 || Semmering, Austria || align=center | Slalom

|-

| 4 January 1997 || Maribor, Slovenia || align=center | Slalom

|-

| 12 January 1997 || Bad Kleinkirchheim, Austria || align=center | Super-G

|-

| 19 January 1997 || Zwiesel, Germany || align=center | Slalom

|-

| 2 February 1997 || Laax, Switzerland || align=center | Combined

|-

| 7 March 1997 || Mammoth Mountain, U.S. || align=center | Slalom

|-

| 12 March 1997 || rowspan=2 | Vail, U.S. || align=center | Downhill

|-

| 16 March 1997 || align=center | Slalom

|-

| align=center rowspan=1 | 1999 || 3 January 1999 || Maribor, Slovenia || align=center | Slalom

|-

| align=center rowspan=1 | 2000 || 18 December 1999 || St. Moritz, Switzerland || align=center | Downhill

|}

Discography

Singles

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"

|-

! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Title

! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Year

! scope="col" colspan="1"| Peak chart positions

! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Album

|-

! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"| SWE

|-

! scope="row"| "Privilege"

| 1992

| 39

| rowspan="2"

|-

|}

See also

  • List of FIS Alpine Ski World Cup women's race winners

References

  • pernilla-wiberg.com – official site
  • Pernilla Wiberg Hotel in Sweden.