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Vreni Schneider
Personal information
Born	26 November 1964 (age 60); Elm, Switzerland
Occupation	Alpine skier
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Skiing career
Disciplines	Technical Events
Club	SC Elm
World Cup debut	1984
Retired	1995
Olympics
Teams	3
Medals	5 (3 gold)
World Championships
Teams	4
Medals	6 (3 gold)
World Cup
Seasons	12
Wins	55
Podiums	101
Overall titles	3
Discipline titles	11
Medal record
Women's alpine skiing
Representing Switzerland
World Cup race podiums
International competitions
Olympic Games
Alpine World Ski Championships

Verena "Vreni" Schneider (born 26 November 1964) is a retired ski racer from Switzerland. She is the most successful alpine ski racer of her country, the fourth most successful female ski racer ever (after Lindsey Vonn, Annemarie Moser-Pröll and Mikaela Shiffrin) and was voted "Swiss Sportswoman of the Century".

Early life

Schneider was born in Elm, the daughter of a shoemaker. Her mother died of cancer when Schneider was a teenager: as a result she put her ski career on hold and dropped out of school to look after the family home.^[1]

Racing career

Schneider made her World Cup debut at the age of 20.^[1] Schneider won the overall alpine skiing World Cup three times and eleven discipline World Cups in Slalom and Giant slalom, along with 55 World Cup races (number four all-time among women to Moser-Pröll, Vonn and Shiffrin). She also won five medals at the Winter Olympics including 3 golds (Slalom and giant slalom at Calgary in 1988 and Slalom at Lillehammer in 1994), and six medals at the World Championships including 3 more golds (Giant slalom at Crans-Montana in 1987 and Vail in 1989; Slalom at Saalbach in 1991).^[2]

During the 1988–89 season she won 14 World Cup races, a record for single season wins that stood until Shiffrin beat that record in the 2018–19 season.

In April 1995, after eleven successful seasons, she announced her retirement. Today she runs a ski and snowboard school in her home village of Elm as well as a sport equipment shop in Glarus.

Vreni Schneider is praised in the Half Man Half Biscuit song 'Uffington Wassail' thus: "Vreni Schneider – you’re my downhill lady! Vreni Schneider – you’re the queen of the slopes!" The song is on the album Trouble Over Bridgwater from the year 2000.

World Cup results

Season titles

14 titles – (3 overall, 6 Slalom, 5 Giant slalom)

	Season
	Season	Discipline
	1986	Giant slalom
	1987	Giant slalom
	1989	Overall
		Slalom
		Giant slalom
	1990	Slalom
	1991	Giant slalom
	1992	Slalom
	1993	Slalom
	1994	Overall
	1994	Slalom
	1995	Overall
		Slalom
		Giant slalom

Season standings

Season
Season	Age	Overall	Slalom	Giant slalom	Super-G	Downhill	Combined
1985	20	9	22	3	—	—	17
1986	21	3	7	1	14	—	5
1987	22	2	4	1	6	14	2
1988	23	5	2	3	22	—	5
1989	24	1	1	1	17	—	3
1990	25	6	1	5	25	—	—
1991	26	3	5	1	—	—	—
1992	27	4	1	2	—	—	—
1993	28	6	1	12	—	—	—
1994	29	1	1	2	19	15	5
1995	30	1	1	1	25	23	2

Race victories


	Total	Slalom	Giant slalom	Downhill	Super-G	Combined	Parallel
Wins	55	34	20	0	0	1	0
Podiums	101	47	46	1	2	5	0

Season
Season	Date	Location	Discipline
1985 2 victories (2 GS)	17 December 1984	Santa Caterina, Italy	Giant slalom
1985 2 victories (2 GS)	17 March 1985	Waterville Valley, USA	Giant slalom
1986 3 victories (3 GS)	6 January 1986	Maribor, Yugoslavia	Giant slalom
	19 January 1986	Oberstaufen, Germany	Giant slalom
	20 March 1986	Waterville Valley, USA	Giant slalom
1987 6 victories (2 SL, 4 GS)	6 December 1986	Waterville Valley, USA	Giant slalom
	17 December 1986	Courmayeur, Italy	Slalom
	5 January 1987	Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria	Giant slalom
	13 February 1987	Megève, France	Giant slalom
	14 February 1987	Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, France	Slalom
	22 March 1987	Sarajevo, Yugoslavia	Giant slalom
1988 2 victories (1 SL, 1 GS)	5 January 1988	Tignes, France	Giant slalom
1988 2 victories (1 SL, 1 GS)	24 January 1988	Bad Gastein, Austria	Slalom
1989 14 victories (7 SL, 6 GS, 1 AC)	28 November 1988	Les Menuires, France	Giant slalom
	16 December 1988	Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, Austria	Slalom
	16 December 1988	Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, Austria	Combined
	18 December 1988	Val Zoldana, Italy	Giant slalom
	20 December 1988	Courmayeur, Italy	Slalom
	3 January 1989	Maribor, Yugoslavia	Slalom
	6 January 1989	Schwarzenberg, Austria	Giant slalom
	7 January 1989	Schwarzenberg, Austria	Giant slalom
	8 January 1989	Mellau, Austria	Slalom
	15 January 1989	Grindelwald, Switzerland	Slalom
	21 January 1989	Tignes, France	Giant slalom
	3 March 1989	Furano, Japan	Slalom
	8 March 1989	Shigakogen, Japan	Giant slalom
	10 March 1989	Shigakogen, Japan	Slalom
1990 5 victories (5 SL)	25 November 1989	Park City, USA	Slalom
	6 January 1990	Piancavallo, Italy	Slalom
	9 January 1990	Hinterstoder, Austria	Slalom
	21 January 1990	Maribor, Yugoslavia	Slalom
	18 March 1990	Åre, Sweden	Slalom
1991 3 victories (1 SL, 2 GS)	11 January 1991	Kranjska Gora, Yugoslavia	Giant slalom
	11 March 1991	Lake Louise, Canada	Slalom
	17 March 1991	Vail, USA	Giant slalom
1992 5 victories (3 SL, 2 GS)	30 November 1991	Lech, Austria	Slalom
	8 December 1991	Santa Caterina, Italy	Giant slalom
	5 January 1992	Oberstaufen, Germany	Giant slalom
	18 January 1992	Maribor, Slovenia	Slalom
	29 February 1992	Narvik, Norway	Slalom
1993 4 victories (4 SL)	6 January 1993	Maribor, Slovenia	Slalom
	17 January 1993	Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy	Slalom
	19 March 1993	Vemdalen, Sweden	Slalom
	28 March 1993	Åre, Sweden	Slalom
1994 7 victories (7 SL)	28 November 1993	Santa Caterina, Italy	Slalom
	19 December 1993	St. Anton, Austria	Slalom
	9 January 1994	Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, Austria	Slalom
	23 January 1994	Maribor, Slovenia	Slalom
	5 February 1994	Sierra Nevada, Spain	Slalom
	10 March 1994	Mammoth Mountain, USA	Slalom
	20 March 1994	Vail, USA	Slalom
1995 4 victories (4 SL)	27 November 1994	Park City, USA	Slalom
	18 December 1994	Sestriere, Italy	Slalom
	26 February 1995	Maribor, Slovenia	Slalom
	19 March 1995	Bormio, Italy	Slalom

World Championship results

Year
Year	Age	Slalom	Giant slalom	Super-G	Downhill	Combined	Team Event
1985	20	—	12	—	—	—	—
1987	22	—	1	4	—	4	—
1989	24	2	1	—	—	2	—
1991	26	1	7	—	—	3	—

Olympic results

Year
Year	Age	Slalom	Giant slalom	Super-G	Downhill	Combined	Team Event
1988	23	1	1	—	—	DNF2	—
1992	27	7	DNF1	—	—	—	—
1994	29	1	3	—	33	2	—

References

^ ^a ^b Johnson, William Oscar (27 January 1988). "Smooth as Clockwork". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Vreni Schneider". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020.