Roland Collombin first turned heads on the international scene when he won the 1969 World Junior Championship for Switzerland in downhill. A downhill specialist, he made his senior top-10 World Cup début in December 1971 with a seventh-place finish in the downhill but had little senior-level international success prior to the 1972 Winter Olympics. At these Games, Bernhard Russi was the obvious favorite in the downhill, particularly with the IOC having banned Austria’s Karl Schranz, but Collombin put forth an impressive challenge and earned a silver medal.
Thereafter Collombin had a remarkable string of successes at the World Cup, earning 11 podium finishes in the discipline, eight of which were victories. With season titles under his belt in 1973 and 1974, he was at the prime of his career when he injured his spine training for the 1975 season. After another injury a year later, one that left him unable to walk for several months, Collombin retired from active competition. An architectural draftsman by career, Collombin eventually opened a guest house in Versegères and become involved in the wine business.
Switzerland