A true all-rounder: Italy mourns the loss of a ski pioneer

The Italian Winter Sports Federation (FISI) has announced that a true ski pioneer lost his life recently.

July 04, 2025

From: sn

Teresio Vachet, an alpine skier of the 1960s and later a speed skiing star in the 1970s, has died in Bardonecchia. Vachet, who had been ill for some time, was 78 years old. Vachet was born in Le Melezet (near Turin), where he remained for life and, together with his wife Marisa, ran the restaurant at the foot of the Olympic slope.

His career began with ski jumping, but he soon switched to alpine skiing, where he achieved prestigious successes, especially in downhill skiing, such as the victory in Morzine in 1967, ahead of the multi-award-winning Jean Claude Killy.

Also in 1967, he won the silver medal in the Kilometro Lanciato (as speed skiing was called at the time) on his home slope in Cervinia. In the following years, Vachet competed with his friend and colleague Alessandro Casse for success in the fastest discipline, setting a world record of 1973 km/h in 183,486.