Tina Maze (; born 2 May 1983) is a retired Slovenian World Cup alpine ski racer. She is the most successful Slovenian ski racer in history with a career that culminated with two gold medals at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Maze was awarded the title of the Slovenian Sportswoman of the Year in 2005, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015, and with her four medals she is the most decorated Slovenian athlete at the Winter Olympics.

Maze started her career as a giant slalom specialist, but later competed in all five alpine skiing disciplines. She is one of seven female racers who has won in all five World Cup disciplines and one of three to do so in a single season. Maze is the 2014 Olympic champion in downhill and giant slalom and the 2015 world champion in downhill and combined. She was also the world champion in giant slalom in 2011 and super-G in 2013.

Maze won a total of 26 World Cup races during her career, and won the World Cup overall title in 2013. In that season, she won 11 races and tallied a record number of World Cup points – 2414, beating the previous record of Hermann Maier of 2000 points from the 2000 season. She also won the super-G and giant slalom titles, and finished first in the combined event (although no globe was awarded) and finished second in slalom and downhill. Maze also improved Maier's previous record of podium finishes in a single season (22) with 24 podiums.

Career

Early years

Maze made her World Cup debut at age 15 in Slovenia in January 1999, in a giant slalom race at Maribor. During her early World Cup seasons, Maze competed in slalom, giant slalom, and super-G, but scored World Cup points only in the first two disciplines. At the 2001 World Championships, Maze's best result was a 16th place in slalom. In January 2002, Maze won her first podium, a second place in giant slalom in Maribor.

2003–2004 seasons

On 26 October 2002, Maze won her first World Cup race at the season opener in Sölden, Austria. She shared the giant slalom win with Nicole Hosp of Austria and Andrine Flemmen of Norway in the first-ever a three-way tie in a World Cup race. Maze finished the 2003 season on the 38th place in the overall standings with 190 points, all in giant slalom. At the 2003 World Championships, she finished 5th in giant slalom.

In the 2004 season, Maze scored one podium, a runner-up position in giant slalom, and finished 33rd in the overall standings with 244 points. She scored her first points in super-G and started competing in downhill races.

The 2007 season was not as successful for her as the previous two seasons, with only 3 top 10 finishes. She finished the season 30th in the overall standings with 268 points. At the 2007 World Championships, Maze's best result was a 14th place in super-G. This move turned out to be a decisive step in Maze's career as her results began to improve significantly. In the 2009 Alpine Skiing World Cup, Maze scored two wins, both in giant slalom, in Maribor, Slovenia, and in Åre, Sweden. She also won three more podiums, finishing second in downhill and was third twice in super-G. At the 2009 World Championships in Val-d'Isère, France, Maze won a silver medal in giant slalom, her first medal in a "big competition." In that race, she was only 15th after the first run but excelled in the second, "because she was angry."

2011–2012 seasons

left|thumb|Maze in January 2011

Maze began the 2011 season strong with several good results and podiums. That season, she won the first races in her career in super combined (Tarvisio, Italy) and slalom (Lenzerheide, Switzerland). She finished on podium six more times. Maze finished the 2011 season third in the overall standings with 1139 points. Despite having the most points in super combined standings, the crystal globe for this discipline is no longer awarded due to a lack of events.

On 1 March, Maze finished second in super-G in Garmisch, her 19th podium of the season, breaking the previous ladies' record. The next day, she won the downhill to record a win in all disciplines in a single season, previously accomplished by only two female skiers. In this race, Maze also surpassed 2,000 World Cup points in a single season and therefore broke Hermann Maier's record from the 2000 season, which was exactly 2,000 points. The last downhill race of the season at the World Cup finals was cancelled, so Maze finished as runner-up in the downhill standings, a single point behind Lindsey Vonn, whose season had ended in February after a knee injury at the World Championships. The last super-G race was also cancelled and Maze won the super-G title. In the last race, a giant slalom on 17 March, she gained her eleventh victory of the season and finished with a record 2,414 points. Maze finished on podium in all Giant slalom events of the season, a feature previously achieved only by Vreni Schneider in the 1989 season. She is also the only woman to remain at the top of the overall ranking throughout the season – a feature only achieved at men's Cup by Bode Miller. In the first race at Planai, Maze won the gold medal in super-G and three days later won the silver medal in super combined. She then finished seventh in downhill, won another silver medal in giant slalom, and took fifth in slalom.

2014 season

right|thumb|Maze (left) with [[Dominique Gisin and Lara Gut during the podium ceremony of the 2014 Olympic downhill]]

Maze started the 2014 season less successfully, with one victory and three more podiums before the Winter Olympics in February. The decline in results was partially attributed to the change of the coach from the previous season, when Walter Ronconi replaced Livio Magoni. In January 2014, Ronconi was replaced by Mauro Pini, who, according to Maze's team, brought a positive change to the team.

Following the Olympics, Maze won two more podiums, two third places. At the end of the season, she was completely exhausted and finished the last races with difficulties, having fulfilled her goals with two Olympic gold medals. She won a third place in the downhill standings and finished 4th overall. Maze finished fifth in super-G, won another gold in the giant slalom, and was eighth in the slalom. Following her Olympic success, Maze was nominated for the Laureus Award for the second year in a row.

2015 season

thumb|left|Maze at a press conference before the start of the 2014/15 season

The start of the 2015 season was stronger than the previous year's for Maze. Winning three races and four additional podiums, Maze came to the 2015 World Championships in Vail / Beaver Creek, Colorado, United States, as the overall World Cup leader and was, as in 2013, seen as a potential candidate to win a medal in all five disciplines. She took silver in the super-G race, continued with winning gold both in downhill and super-combined and then finished 5th in giant slalom and 8th in slalom, what was her best overall performance at World Championships. Final races of the season were a close battle between Maze and Fenninger. Maze won six more podiums until the end of the season and was leading 18 points in the overall standings before the last race but Fenninger won the last giant slalom and defended her overall title from the 2014 season. Maze finished the season second, with her second-highest number of season points. She also finished third in the slalom, super-G, and downhill standings. At the end of the season, Maze hinted that she may retire from competitive sport in the following months.

Retirement

thumb|right|Maze in 2017, shortly before her retirement

In May 2015, Maze announced that she would take a break from the sport for a year, not competing in the 2015–16 season and focusing on her studies instead. On 20 October 2016 in Sölden, Maze announced her retirement from competitive skiing. She officially concluded her career on 7 January 2017 at the giant slalom race in Maribor, at the venue where she made her World Cup debut in 1999.

World Cup results

In November 2017, they announced they were expecting a child together. She gave birth to a girl in February 2018.

In 2012, Maze recorded a pop-rock single "My Way Is My Decision", produced by Raay.

During the year-long break from competing, Maze concluded her studies at the Faculty of Education, University of Maribor, obtaining an elementary school teacher degree.

Awards

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|-

! style="width:50px;"|Year

! style="width:500px;"|Category

! style="width:450px;"|Voted by

! style="width:100px;"|Result

|-

| align=center|2005

| Slovenian Sportswoman of the Year

| Slovene sports journalists association

|

|-

| align=center|2010

| Slovenian Sportswoman of the Year

| Slovene sports journalists association

|

|-

| align=center|2011

| Slovenian Sportswoman of the Year

| Slovene sports journalists association

|

|-

| align=center|2012

| Prince of Asturias Awards

| Sports category

|

|-

| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="5"|2013

| Sportswoman of the Year

| Women's Sports Foundation

|

|-

| Serge Lang Trophy – Skier of the Year

| International Association of Ski Journalists

|

|-

| Slovenian Sportswoman of the Year

| Slovene sports journalists association

|

|-

| World Athlete of the Year

| Chicago Tribune's 27th annual international sports award

| style="text-align:center; background:silver;"|2nd

|-

| European Athlete of the Year

| European Press Agencies led by PAP; women's category

|

|-

| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="4"|2014

| 2013 AIPS European Female Athlete of the Year

| International Sports Press Association

| style="text-align:center; background:silver;"|2nd

|-

| Laureus World Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year

| Various World Media journalists

|

|-

| Slovenian Sportswoman of the Year

| Slovene sports journalists association

|

|-

|World Sportswoman of the Year

| Gazzetta dello Sport readership

|

|-

| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="2"|2015

| Slovenian Sportswoman of the Year

| Slovene sports journalists association

|

|-

| L'Équipe Champion of Champions

| L'Équipe readership

| style="text-align:center"|5th

|}

  • Crystal globes in combined have not been officially awarded for 2013 season. However, athletes still get their medals.

References

  • '