Tommy Moe

Thomas Sven "Tommy" 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.

Tommy Moe

Alpine skier
Tommy Moe in Alaska in June 2006
Disciplines	Downhill, Super G, Combined
Born	(1970-02-17) February 17, 1970 Missoula, Montana, U.S.
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
World Cup debut	March 17, 1990 (age 20) (first top 15)
Retired	June 1998 (age 28)
Olympics
Teams	3 – (1992, 1994, 1998)
Medals	2 (1 gold)
World Championships
Teams	3 – (1989, 1993, 1996)
Medals	0
World Cup
Seasons	9 – (1990–1998)
Wins	1 – (1 SG)
Podiums	7 – (3 DH, 4 SG)
Overall titles	0 – (8th in 1994)
Discipline titles	0 – (3rd in SG, 1994)
Medal record Men's alpine skiing Representing the  United States Olympic Games 1994 Lillehammer Downhill 1994 Lillehammer Super G Junior World Ski Championships 1989 Alyeska Combined 1989 Alyeska Super G 1987 Hemsedal Downhill

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

• 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway: two medals
  • Gold medal in Downhill
  • Silver medal in Super G (on his 24th birthday)
• Five (5) U.S. Alpine Championship titles
• One (1) World Cup victory (1994, Super G at Whistler)
• Inducted into the National Ski Hall of Fame in 2003

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 and 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. http://classic.mountainzone.com/ski/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. 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. Johnson, William Oscar (February 21, 1994). "The Son Finally Rises". Sports Illustrated. cover story: 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. 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.

External links

• Tommy Moe at the International Ski Federation
• Tommy Moe World Cup standings at the International Ski Federation
• Tommy Moe at Ski-DB Alpine Ski Database
• Tommy Moe at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
• U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame – Tommy Moe
• Jackson Hole.com – Tommy Moe
• Tordrillo Mountain Lodge – Tommy Moe
• Classic Mountain Zone.com – Tommy Moe – 1998 retirement