Sarah Schleper

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Sarah Schleper (born February 19, 1979 in Glenwood Springs, Colorado) is an American alpine skier.

Schleper won her first World Cup medals in 2000, a silver in slalom and a bronze in giant slalom. She had her first World Cup victory in the slalom final in 2005. Birthdate: 02/19/79 Hometown: Vail, CO Height: 5' 4" Years on Team: 8

Hobbies include: Mt. Biking, Surfing, Water skiing, Dirt Biking, Yoga, & Soccer. Concerts.

Accomplishments: > 7 top 10 finishes and 1 world cup win - '04-'05 world cup season > 2005 us national slalom champion - mammoth, ca > 8 top 10 finishes and 1 podium - '03-'04 world cup season > World Cup Podium in both SL and GS '01 > 18 times top 10 Alpine World Cup '01-'03 > 3 Time National Champion > Colorado Skiing Sportswoman of the Year '02/'03 > Skiing Magazines Top 25 Skiers in North America '01 > 1997 World Juniors - SL Silver Medal > 1994 Whistler Cup - SL Champion > 1994 Topolino - SL Silver Medal

Sarah Schleper made her World Cup debut at home but three years later was injured when the World Championships came to her hometown in '99. She's been to two Olympics, been on World Cup podiums and won U.S. championships. She likes that view from a podium.

In 1997, Skiing Magazine called her "the great blond hope -- part Rasta, part Harpo, part Medusa, all Sarah." In her free time, she liked to see Phish concerts and ride her Harley. Schleper is frequently recognized by her thicket of long, curly blond hair, which turns heads all over Europe, much to Schleper's surprise.

Her goal for the 2004 season is more consistency "getting my skis to go fast... relaxing and letting my instinct for speed take control."

Schleper's father, Buzz, raised Sarah and her younger brother as a single parent. In 1972, Buzz was a self-proclaimed ski bum who moved from Minnesota to Vail with a van and $1,000 in cash. Upon arrival, he worked in a local ski shop and later opened his own store. "She literally grew up in my shop," Buzz says of Sarah. "I think she learned you have to work for everything you get." As a child, Sarah would beg her father to ski, then head to the shop afterwards and fall asleep under one of the ski-tuning benches. When Buzz got done with his shift at midnight or later, he would carry his sleeping daughter to the car and drive her home. Sarah began skiing at age 2 after receiving a pair of skis for her birthday. She was racing by age 11. Schleper won five Junior Olympics gold medals and was Junior Skier of the Year for "Ski Racing" in 1995; she also was Whistler Cup slalom champ in '94 and made her World Cup debut at Beaver Creek, Colorado, in November 1995 at age 16. In '97, Schleper was slalom silver medalist at World Juniors.

Schleper went on a surfing trip to Costa Rica and as the Ski Team returned from its annual Down Under visit to New Zealand, she joined Julia Mancuso and Lauren Ross for more than a week of surfing in Samoa...Also enjoys wake boarding and water skiing...She has coached many summers for Erich Sailer when his young skiers head to a glacier...Double duty: Schleper has been on both side of the fence, as it were, racing and also writing an occasional column for several winters for "Ski Racing".