Tommy Moe

Tommy Moe
Tommy Moe in Alaska in June 2006
Personal information
Born (1970-02-17) February 17, 1970 (age 54)
Missoula, Montana, U.S.
OccupationAlpine skier
Height5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Skiing career
DisciplinesDownhill, super-G,
combined
World Cup debutMarch 17, 1990 (age 20)
(first top 15)
RetiredJune 1998 (age 28)
Olympics
Teams3 – (1992, 1994, 1998)
Medals2 (1 gold)
World Championships
Teams3 – (1989, 1993, 1996)
Medals0
World Cup
Seasons9 – (1990–1998)
Wins1 – (1 SG)
Podiums7 – (3 DH, 4 SG)
Overall titles0 – (8th in 1994)
Discipline titles0 – (3rd in SG, 1994)
Medal record
Men's alpine skiing
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1994 Lillehammer Downhill
Silver medal – second place 1994 Lillehammer Super-G
Junior World Ski Championships
Gold medal – first place 1989 Alyeska Combined
Gold medal – first place 1989 Alyeska Super-G
Silver medal – second place 1987 Hemsedal Downhill

Thomas Sven Moe (born February 17, 1970) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from the United States. An Olympic gold and silver medalist in 1994, he specialized in the speed events of downhill and super G.

Early years

Born in Missoula, Montana, Moe learned to ski and race at The Big Mountain near Whitefish, where his father was a member of the ski patrol. Moe refined his skills as a teenager in Alaska at Alyeska, near Anchorage, where he attended the Glacier Creek Ski Academy. He joined the U.S. Ski Team in 1986 at age 16.[1]

Racing career

Moe made his World Cup debut at 17[2] and days before he turned 19, competed at the 1989 World Championships in Vail, Colorado, where he placed 12th in the downhill competition. He earned his first World Cup points (top 15) in March 1990 with a 13th-place finish at Åre, Sweden, the 1990 season's final race.[3]

In a surprising performance in 1994 Winter Olympics at Lillehammer, Norway, Moe became the first American male ski racer to win two medals in a single Winter Olympics, with a gold in the downhill and silver in the super-G at Kvitfjell.[4] At the time Moe was a resident of Alaska; after his Olympic victories his father was shown on television waving the Alaska state flag.[5][6][7]

Of Norwegian ancestry, he quickly became a favorite with the crowd at Kvitfjell, despite edging out Kjetil André Aamodt of Norway by 0.04 seconds to take the gold medal in the downhill.[7] He then placed second in the super-G on his 24th birthday, finishing 0.09 seconds behind Markus Wasmeier of Germany.[4] His success came despite not having yet won a World Cup race, though he had attained three podiums and had raced well the previous twelve months, starting with a fifth place in the downhill at the 1993 World Championships in Japan.[8] (He won a month after the Olympics, a super-G at Whistler, Canada,[9][10] his sole World Cup victory).

Moe's best World Cup season was also in 1994, where he finished third in the super-G and eighth in both the downhill and overall standings. (Since 1971, the World Cup standings have not included the Winter Olympics or World Championships results.)

In March 1995, Moe suffered a right knee injury at Kvitfjell, on the same race course on which he won his Olympic medals thirteen months earlier.[11][12] Following his recovery, he never regained his top form,[13][14] and missed the World Championships in 1997 after a fluke thumb injury in late January required surgery.[14][15][16] He returned in March and won the downhill at the U.S. Alpine Championships in Maine.[17] Moe made his third U.S. Olympic team in 1998 at Nagano,[14] and finished eighth in the super-G and twelfth in the downhill at Hakuba. He retired from competitive ski racing that June at age 28.[18]

Career highlights

World Cup results

Season standings

Season Age Overall Slalom Giant
 slalom 		 Super-G Downhill Combined
1990 20 97 — — — 36 —
1991 21 74 — — — 29 —
1992 22 79 — — 49 40 31
1993 23 31 — — 26 19 48
1994 24 8 — — 3 8 4
1995 25 28 — — 11 18 12
1996 26 152 — — 62 65 —
1997 27 87 — — 50 35 —
1998 28 72 — — 32 35 —

Race podiums

  • 1 win - (1 SG)
  • 7 podiums - (4 DH, 3 SG)
Season Date Location Discipline Place
1993 27 Feb 1993 Whistler, BC, Canada Downhill 2nd
1994 12 Dec 1993 Val-d'Isère, France Super-G 3rd
29 Dec 1993 Bormio, Italy Downhill 3rd
12 Mar 1994 Whistler, BC, Canada Downhill 3rd
13 Mar 1994 Super-G 1st
16 Mar 1994 Vail, CO, USA Downhill 3rd
1995 11 Dec 1994 Tignes, France Super-G 2nd

World Championship results

  Year    Age   Slalom   Giant 
 slalom 		 Super-G Downhill Combined
1989 19 — — 21 12 —
1991 21
1993 23 — — cancelled 5 13
1996 26 — — 42 21 —
1997 27 thumb injury, did not compete
  • The Super-G in 1993 was cancelled after multiple weather delays.

Olympic results

  Year    Age   Slalom   Giant 
 slalom 		 Super-G Downhill Combined
1992 22 — — 28 20 18
1994 24 — — 2 1 5
1998 28 — — 8 12 —

After racing

Moe was inducted into the National Ski Hall of Fame five years later, and is currently a co-owner of Tordrillo Mountain Lodge in the Alaska Range and lives in Wilson, Wyoming. He serves as an ambassador of skiing at nearby Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.

Personal

Moe married longtime girlfriend Megan Gerety in 2003; they have two daughters and reside in western Wyoming.

References

  1. ^ "Tommy Moe".
  2. ^ "Chasing a dream". Toledo Blade. (Knight News Service). February 13, 1994. p. B4.
  3. ^ FIS-ski.com - World Championships - Downhill - 1989-02-06
  4. ^ a b Philips, Angus (February 18, 1994). "Moe skis into U.S. record book". Eugene Register-Guard. (Washington Post). p. 1B.
  5. ^ Powers, Tom (February 14, 1994). "This Moe's no stooge on the slopes". Lewiston (ME) Sun-Journal. Knight-Ridder. p. 23.
  6. ^ Philips, Angus (February 14, 1994). "Unheralded Tommy Moe races to first U.S. medal". Washington Post. p. A1.
  7. ^ a b Johnson, William Oscar (February 21, 1994). "The Son Finally Rises". Sports Illustrated. cover story. p. 20. Archived from the original on March 11, 2014.
  8. ^ "Kitt, Moe crack top five in downhill". Bend (OR) Bulletin. Associated Press. February 11, 1993. p. D-2.
  9. ^ "Moe finds gold at World Cup". Spokesman-Review. wire reports. March 14, 1994. p. C4.
  10. ^ "Moe claims World Cup win at Whistler super-G". Bend (OR) Bulletin. Associated Press. March 14, 1994. p. D3.
  11. ^ "Injury could keep Moe off slopes for six months". Toledo Blade. wire reports. March 11, 1995. p. 26.
  12. ^ "Skiing: Uphill climb for downhill racers". Orlando Sentinel.com. February 6, 1998. Retrieved February 18, 2012.
  13. ^ Wade, Stephen (February 11, 1996). "Moe made cautious by injury". Spokesman-Review. Associated Press. p. C1.
  14. ^ a b c Dwyer, Philip (February 4, 1998). "A trail of tarnished gold". Spokesman-Review. (Philadelphia Inquirer). p. C1.
  15. ^ "Moe severs tendon in hand". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. wire reports. January 27, 1997. p. 3C.
  16. ^ "At a glance: Skiing". Post and Courier. Charleston, SC. wire reports. January 28, 1997. p. 5D.
  17. ^ "Moe captures U.S. downhill". Lodi News-Sentinel. Associated Press. March 21, 1997. p. 17.
  18. ^ "Moe, Kitt retire". Post and Courier. Charleston, SC. wire reports. June 4, 1998. p. 4C.