BIOGRAPHY
Olympian Resi (RAY-zee) Stiegler was born and grew up in prime ski country (Jackson Hole, WY, and Lienz, Austria). She's represented the United States at every level of alpine ski racing - Topolino, Whistler Cup, Junior Worlds, World Cup, World Championships and the Olympics. She's won Junior Worlds medals and U.S. titles, and is looking to upgrade her World Cup top-5 performance to podiums and victories.

UPDATE
Stiegler was well on her way to nabbing her first World Cup podium with three top 10 finishes in slalom (including a fourth in Reiteralm) when she crashed on Dec. 28 during a World Cup giant slalom in Lienz, Austria, sliding off the course and under safety netting before stopping against a small tree outside the fencing. She suffered a fractured left arm, ligament damage to her right knee and multiple bruises in the crash, sidelining her for the rest of the season. Not to be held down for long, Resi filled her time working out in Maui and even got some snow time by using sit-ski's designed for disabled skiers. She was ready to rock and roll with summer on-snow camps when she collided with another player during a recreational soccer game in Jackson and subsequently reinjured her right knee, further delaying her comeback to racing.

FIRST TRACKS 
She was skiing at 2, racing at 6. In '99, Stiegler was silver medalist in GS and bronze medalist in slalom at the Western J3 Juniors Olympics; a year later, she won gold in both events at JOs. She earned World Cup starts for '03 by finishing second (with one win) in the 2002 Nor Am slalom points, then gave a preview of her 2003 breakout by tearing through European-packed fields (before the Park City World Cups) to finish sixth in the first two Chevy Truck Super Series giant slaloms. "I didn't go to World Juniors last year, so I'm gonna make it to the real World Championships this year,” she said. And she made it.

In her first Juniors Worlds in '03, she was bronze medalist in slalom and combined. Stiegler credits not only her parents but another Olympic champion and silver medalist - former Olympic and world champion Diann Roffe, who coached in a U.S. development program for several winters - with helping sculpt such a promising racer.

FIRST WORLD CUP
Dec. 15, 2002 in Sestriere, Italy (did not qualify in inaugural women's "knockout SL”)

OLYMPICS/WORLDS
2007 Worlds - 8th in SL, 35th in GS, DNF-SL in super combined. 2006 Olympics - 11th in combined, 12th in slalom. 2005 Worlds - 6th in SL, 21st in CO. 2003 Worlds - 10th in combined, 19th in SL

CHALLENGES
2007 - On Dec. 28 during a World Cup giant slalom in Lienz, Austria, she slid off the course and under safety netting before stopping against a small tree outside the fencing. She suffered a fractured left arm, ligament damage to her right knee and multiple bruises in the crash. 2006 - Shin problems sidelined her for two months from the season opener.

I AM
"Tiger”...Soundbite: "Every other girl is doing more than you are right now, you just gotta know, someone working harder than you are and that motivates me to get out there”...Team Resi - Dad is Pepi Stiegler, Austrian Olympic multi-medalist and former ski school director in Jackson Hole; Mom, Carrie, is an appraiser in Jackson Hole; and Stiegler has a younger (and much taller) brother, Seppi, an up-and-coming racer; 2007 marked the first U.S. championships where they each competed...Her poetry belies her competitive fire - in swimming and soccer as well as skiing...Other fun: playing the fiddle - she's competed in fiddle contests - and she brings, among other things, a stuffed moose when she travels...As a kid, she spent summers at the family home in Austria, and she and Seppi attended grade school in Lienz one year...Growing up slopeside in the Grand Tetons, she would ski to the bus stop...