
Following those Olympics, he won a World Cup slalom in Aspen in March and finished 7th in the overall World Cup standings, the best from North America. He took 15th in the downhill but did not finish the first run of the slalom, which was held in thick fog. The following year he took fifth in the giant slalom (GS) at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France. During this injury time, he returned to college at the University of Colorado in Boulder. The injury also kept him out of the first World Cup season of 1967. Later the same year, he broke his right tibia in two places during downhill training at the 1966 World Championships, held in August in Portillo, Chile. Kidd suffered the first of two major injuries that almost ended his career, a left ankle sprain in late January, which resulted in a tendon operation. In the final non-World Cup season of 1966, Kidd won three crucial races in Europe and was actually outracing Jean-Claude Killy. Completing all three races kept him eligible for the combined, then a non-medal event in the Olympics (but a World Championship medal event), and he took third for the FIS bronze. Kidd finished seventh in the giant slalom and 16th in the downhill. Both Kidd and Heuga were just 20 years old at the time. A silver medalist in the slalom at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Kidd was the first American man (along with Heuga, who took bronze in the same race) to earn an Olympic medal in alpine skiing. After enduring a season hampered by injuries, Kidd entered the 1964 season with high hopes and gritty determination. Kidd made a name for himself that first season at age 18 with an eighth place in the slalom and a 15th place in the giant slalom (GS) at the 1962 World Championships in Chamonix, France. Since 1970, Kidd has enjoyed enduring "legend" status in the sport, and he has remained in the public eye in his job as director of skiing at Steamboat Ski Resort in Colorado.
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He promptly switched circuits and enjoyed a successful pro ski racing career from 1970 to 1972, winning the World Pro Ski Tour World Championships in 1970, becoming the only racer in history to win FIS and Pro titles the same year. Six years later, Kidd won a gold medal in the combined and a bronze in the slalom at the 1970 World Championships in Val Gardena, Italy. Ski Team from 1962 to 1970.Īt the 1964 Winter Olympics at Innsbruck, Kidd and teammate Jimmie Heuga became the first American men to win Olympic medals in alpine skiing, winning silver and bronze in the slalom. William Winston Kidd (born April 13, 1943) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer, a member of the U.S.
