Hans Petter Buraas

Hans Petter Buraas ( born March 20, 1975 in Bærum, just outside Oslo ) is a retired Norwegian alpine skier. In 1998 he was Olympic champion in slalom and won a race at the Ski World Cup.

Career

A first international success came Buraas by winning the bronze medal in the giant slalom at the Junior World Championships in 1994 in Lake Placid. From the 1994/95 season, he started in the World Cup. At the beginning of the next winter he won as the 27th in the giant slalom in Tignes the first points, after which he was only able to score again in January 1997.

The breakthrough for the Norwegians in the 1997/98 season. The end of November he went sixth place in the slalom at Park City for the first time in the top ten and mid-December, he was the third in the slalom in Sestriere for the first time on the podium. In January, followed by a third place in the slalom in Schladming and the second place in the slalom in Kitzbuehel. In February Buraas celebrated at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan the biggest success of his career when he was on his compatriot Ole Kristian Furuseth Olympic champion in slalom with over 1.3 seconds ahead. In the World Cup at the season finale in Crans -Montana, he managed another second place, which he third in the slalom World Cup was behind the two Austrians Thomas Sykora and Thomas Stangassinger.

Over the next two seasons he could indeed usually classify in the top ten in the slalom, if he could finish the race on the podium he came in those two years, but only once. In the 1999 World Cup in Vail he fell out in the first slalom run. In the 2000 /01 season he was able to increase again and celebrated on 11 December 2000 in the slalom in Sestriere his first and only World Cup victory. In January, he came in Kitzbühel and Schladming also on the podium, reaching further two fourth places to fifth in the slalom World Cup. But at the World Championship 2001 in St. Anton am Arlberg, he left as two years earlier in the first round of the slalom.

Due to a serious injury, the Buraas had suffered in May 2001 in training, he could not attend races throughout the winter of 2001 / 02 to. In the season 2002/ 03 he returned to the ski circuit and was third in the slalom in Schladming Bormio and on the podium again. With a total of five top-10 places, he finished seventh in the slalom World Cup. But with the 2003 World Cup in St. Moritz, he succeeded again no result, this time he dropped out after a gate faults in the second round of.

The following season 2003/ 04 was for Buraas after a new injury in December to the end. After that, he did not come closer to its previous performance. In the season 2004/ 05 he was able to score in 18th in the slalom in Sestriere only once. In the winter of 2005/ 06 he came into the slalom in Madonna di Campiglio and Schladming least to the 13th or 12th place. This enabled him to participate in Turin for the second time at the Olympic Winter Games. However, he dropped out in the first slalom run. At the beginning of the season 2006/ 07 went Buraas with 26th place in the slalom in Levi for the last time in his career in the World Cup points ranking. His last major event was the 2007 World Championships in Åre. In his fourth world championship of Norwegians came for the first time in the ranking. Buraas reached the World Cup, given its results very good eighth place. After this winter, he finished his career.

Buraas denied in his twelve years of World Cup career total of 118 races (78 slalom and giant slalom 40 ). In slalom, he was victorious, another nine podiums and a total of 25 top-10 results. In the Giant Slalom was a 15th place in Yongpyong on 28 February 1998 his best result. Buraas is athlete ambassador of development organization Right to Play.