Ed Podivinsky

Ed Podivinsky

Personal information
Born	(1970-03-08) March 8, 1970 Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Medal record Men's Alpine skiing 1994 Lillehammer Downhill

Edward "Ed" Charles Podivinsky (born March 8, 1970) is a Canadian alpine skier who competed in the 1994 Winter Olympics, 1998 Winter Olympics, and 2002 Winter Olympics. He was member of the 1992 Canadian Olympic (Albertville) team. He was injured in his last training run for the men's downhill event.

Personal

Podivinsky was born in Edmonton, Alberta. He is of Czech descent. His brother Thomas died in a ski accident on February 16, 2014, at Whitefish Montana.

Medals

In 1994, he won the bronze medal in the Alpine downhill event.

Career

Ed currently works in the institutional equity division at RBC Capital Markets.

Biography

Podivinsky was an Olympic bronze medalist. He competed for 13 years on the national team, captured a World Cup downhill in Saalbach, Austria. Ed was Canada's first world junior alpine champion in 1989. Before that, he skied as a forerunner at the 1988 Calgary Olympics. At 15, he was training with the national team. Former Olympian Carey Mullen recalled a Canadian alpine ski team race he and Podivinsky competed in as teenagers. Mullen, 16, came in 17th. Then 15-year-old Podivinsky flew into the finish area in third place, more than three seconds faster than Mullen. Although they started as rivals, the two became training partners and eventually friends. They both finidhrf 1-2 at a World Cup downhill in Saalbach in 1994. That set the stage for Lillehammer and Podivinsky's Olympic highlight. One of Podivinsky's favourite stories about reaching the podium in 1994 occurred soon after he crashed at the 1992 Olympics in Albertville. That spill happened on the final day of training in Val d'Isere, France, and took him out of the race. Within days, he was in a Vancouver hospital recovering from reconstructive knee surgery. "I was really groggy and Dr. Pat McConkey comes into my room, opens the drapes and turns on the TV," Podivinsky recalled. "He said, ‘[Canada's] Kerrin Lee-Gartner has just won gold. I repaired both those knees. You'd better make it back as well.'." Podivinsky made it back for Lillehammer, Nagano (where he placed fifth) and finally Salt Lake City (24th), where he knew his career was done. After retiring at 31, Podivinsky entered the world of finance. While competing, he studied for his chartered financial analyst exams and would spend time on trading floors during the off-season. He is Director of global equity sales for Royal Bank of Canada and a father of four, all of whom are skiers.

Sports performance

Olympic Résulats

Lillehammer in 1994 , 23 years

Skiing, downhill : 3rd place

Alpine Skiing Super G: Abandon

Skiing, Handset: Abandon

Nagano in 1998 , 27 years

Skiing, downhill : 5th place

Alpine Skiing Super G: Disqualified

Skiing, downhill : Abandon

2002 Salt Lake City, 31 years old

Skiing, downhill : 24th place

Skiing, Handset: Abandon

1995 Résulats of National competitions and North American

7th place , Giant Slalom , Stoneham / Le Relais, Quebec

5th place, Slalom, Stoneham / Le Relais, Quebec

1st place , Downhill , Mont Ste- Anne , Quebec

3rd Place , Super G, Mont Ste- Anne , Quebec

3rd place , Downhill , Whitefish , Montana

9th place , Giant Slalom , Whistler, British Columbia

1996

6th place Slalom , Le Relais , Quebec

6th place , Giant Slalom , Stoneham , Quebec

1st place , Downhill , Mont Ste- Anne , Quebec

1997

3rd place Giant Slalom , Rossland, British Columbia

4th place, Downhill, Rossland, British Columbia

2nd place, Super G, Rossland, British Columbia

1998

1st place , Downhill Skiing, Jackson Hole, Wyoming

2000

6th place , Giant Slalom , Sun Peaks, British Columbia

2001

2nd place , Downhill Skiing, Lake Louise, Alberta

3rd place , Downhill Skiing, Lake Louise, Alberta

3rd place, Downhill, Mont Ste- Anne , Quebec

7th , Super G, Mont Ste- Anne , Quebec

8th place, Slalom, Mont Orford , Quebec

2002

4th place , Downhill Skiing, Whistler , British Columbia, Quebec

Résulats International Competitions 1988

8th place , Downhill , Madonna di Campiglio , Italy

1989

1st place , Downhill Aleyska , Alaska

1991

9th place , Giant Slalom , Saalbach -Hinterglemm, Austria

1994

1st place , Downhill , Saalbach -Hinterglemm, Austria

5th place, Handset, Chamonix, France

3rd place , Downhill Skiing, Lillehammer, Norway

7th place , Downhill , Aspen, United States of America

4th place , Downhill , Aspen, United States of America

5th place, Downhill, Cail , United States of America

1995

4th place , Downhill Kitzbühel , Austria

7th place , Handset , Wengen, Switzerland

5th place , Downhill , Saalbach -Hinterglemm, Austria

4th , Super G , Whistler, British Columbia

4th place, Downhill, Mont Ste- Anne , Quebec

9th place , Giant Slalom , Whistler, British Columbia

4th , Super G, El Colorado / Farellone , Chile

10th place , Downhill Skiing, Vail, Colorado

3rd place , Downhill , Bormio, Italy

1996

5th place, Handset, Kitzbühel , Austria

2nd place Super -G , Garmisch -Partenkirchen , Germany

2nd place, Downhill, Mont Ste Anne , Quebec

3rd place Slalom, Mont Garceau , Quebec

2nd place Giant Slalom , Mont Garceau , Quebec

4th place , Downhill , Bormio , Italy

1997

10th place , Downhill Kitzbühel , Austria

4th , Super G , Garmisch -Partenkirchen , Germany

3rd place , Downhill Kvitfjell , Norway

5th place, Downhill, Valle Nevado / LaParva , Chile

1998

9th place , Downhill , Wengen, Switzerland

3rd place, Handset, Kitzbühel , Austria

1st place , Downhill , Jackson, Wyoming

1999

3rd place, Downhill, Val Gardena, Italy

10th place , Downhill Skiing, Val Gardena, Italy

2000

3rd place , Downhill , Wengen, Switzerland

5th place , Downhill , Bormio, Italy

World Cup victories

Date	Location	Race
6 January 1994	Saalbach	Downhill

External links

• Ed Podivinsky at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
• Ed Podivinsky at Ski-DB Alpine Ski Database
• Canadian Ski Hall of Fame biography Archived 2014-03-24 at the Wayback Machine