13-Year Alpine Veteran Lalive Retires

PARK CITY, UT (Aug. 18) - The U.S. Ski Team is bidding a fond farewell to comeback kid Caroline Lalive (Steamboat Springs, CO), who is stepping back from World Cup racing after 13 seasons. The two-time Olympian was a member of five World Championships teams and amassed five World Cup podiums in over a decade of skiing at the elite level.

Despite missing multiple seasons due to injury, including the 2006 Olympics after being named to the Team, Lalive also missed the complete '07 and '08 seasons. She battled back into the World Cup start house for 2009 only to have it end with yet another knee injury in February. In total, the addictingly positive Lalive suffered 19 skiing injuries, including 12 to her knees requiring multiple surgeries.

"It's funny, I never wanted my determination to come back from injury to be the motto of my career," said the two-time U.S. Champion. "The amazing thing is that despite all the injuries, I never lost my love of skiing. If anything, it made me love it even more. Even today, I haven't lost my passion for skiing and never will."

After rising up through the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club program, Lalive jumped into the big leagues wide eyed and without expectations when she shocked everyone with a surprise seventh in combined at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Only 18-years-old at that point, she had started less than two-dozen World Cup races never finishing better than 26th before the Olympic breakthrough.

"The 1998 Olympics were super significant," she said. "Alex Shaffer and I made the team at the last second and went into those Olympics with the most surreal feeling, it could have been outer space and it would have felt the same. I ate sushi for the first time the night before the race. But then, wow, seventh! It was my first taste of success and gave me my vision for the future."

A year later she was the combined gold medalist at the Junior World Championships and scored her first World Cup podium the very next season with a combined second in Santa Caterina, Italy. She would rack up four more podiums, including a pair if seconds in downhill and a third in super G. Her final downhill podium was at Val d'Isere, France in 2005.

"Caroline's retirement only ends the completion for her racing career and certainly not her skiing career," said U.S. Ski Team Head Coach Jim Tracy. "Caroline's work ethic and commitment to winning is second to none. Carloine also brought to the team a bond that will not be easily replaced. Not only with the U.S. Ski Team, but the entire World Cup circuit will miss Caroline's infectious smile and laugh."

"Ahead of anything, the most valuable thing to me is the friendships that would not have happened if not for ski racing," said Lalive. "I started traveling internationally at 14 and the ski racing community just embraces each other, there's truly nothing like it."

Lalive was a part of teams that included U.S. greats Picabo Street, Jonna Mendes and now Vonn and remembers sharing endless laughs with them, but says some of her best memories are from the last two seasons.

"It was so cool to come back into racing with such amazing young girls like Leanne Smith (Conway, NH) and Chelsea Marshall (Pittsfield, VT). I love all those girls and I've made a promise to do everything I can to help their success."

"Caroline's departure from World Cup ski racing marks the end of a fabulous career," said former U.S. Ski Team coach Georg Capaul, who now coaches for the renowned Holderness program in New Hampshire. "Caroline earned the respect of her peers and coaches through her determination and unwavering commitment. This talented all-around skier was a wonderful teammate and role model."

In addition to Capaul, Lalive praised her all her U.S. Ski Team coaches, who were with her through success and injury. She also thanked her family, who made the move to Steamboat Springs, CO just so she and her brother and sister could ski.

"All the U.S. Ski Team coaches were always so good to me, so were all the people involved in the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club - those guys are just as dedicated to skiing as any good athlete," said Lalive. "And I cannot say enough about my family. They instilled my passion for skiing. My Dad grew up skiing, but my Mom didn't, she just did everything possible to allow it to become a part of our lives."

Ultimately it wasn't her love for skiing that called for her career to open a new chapter, it was her health. For Lalive, it's something she understands.

"My whole life, I could keep asking myself 'can I still do it?" said Lalive. "But In my heart, I know that I gave it my all. I'm ready for the next step - no doubt it will involve skiing."