AJ Ginnis
Ginnis in 2017 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Alexandros Ioannis Ginnis | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 17 November 1994 Athens, Greece | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Alpine skier | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country |
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| College team | Dartmouth Big Green | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Skiing career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disciplines | Slalom, giant slalom | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Green Mountain Valley School, SXO Arachovas | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Cup debut | 22 December 2014 (age 20) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | 16 February 2026 (age 31) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Olympics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Teams | 1 – (2026) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Medals | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Championships | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Teams | 3 – (2017, 2021, 2023) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Medals | 1 (0 gold) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Cup | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Seasons | 10 – (2015–2018, 2020–2021, 2023–2026) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Podiums | 1 – (1 SL) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Overall titles | 0 – (61st in 2024) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline titles | 0 – (23rd in SL, 2023 & 2024) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Alexandros Ioannis "AJ" Ginnis (Greek: Αλέξανδρος Ιωάννης Γκιννής; born 17 November 1994)[1] is a retired Greek-American World Cup alpine ski racer. Ginnis specialized in the technical events, with a focus on slalom. The Greek native joined the US Ski Team in 2012 at age seventeen and moved to represent Greece in 2020. He became the most decorated winter athlete in Greek history, attaining the country's first podium at an FIS Ski World Cup event and first world championships medal in any Winter Olympic sport. His career was plagued by multiple knee injuries which ultimately forced him to end his racing career at age 31. Ginnis retired from racing after a ceremonial final run at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Early life
Born in Athens, Greece, to a Greek father and an American mother, Alexandros Ioannis Ginnis grew up in the seaside suburb of Vouliagmeni.[2][3] His father ran a ski school, where he met his wife.[4] Alexandros started skiing at age two at Mt. Parnassus.[4] When he was twelve, he moved to Austria with his father.[4] It was then that the young skier found that he loved ski racing and had potential to be successful.[5] Ginnis was fifteen when his family moved to the United States, where he enrolled at the Green Mountain Valley School in Vermont.[4]
Career
At age seventeen, Ginnis was named to the US Ski Team in the spring of 2012.[4] After tearing his ACL while training in Chile later that year,[2] he was able to return in the fall of 2013 and made his World Cup debut on 22 December 2014 in a slalom at Madonna di Campiglio, Italy.[1] Later that season, Ginnis won the bronze medal in the slalom at the Junior World Championships in Hafjell, Norway, and continued to climb the ranks by securing podiums and wins at Europa Cup, Nor-Am Cup, and national championship events.[1]
On 22 December 2016, Ginnis scored his first World Cup points, finishing 26th in the slalom at Madonna di Campiglio.[6] During that 2017 season, he qualified to represent Team USA at the World Championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and was part of the US team in the mixed team parallel event.[7] In March he won the slalom title at the US Alpine Championships.[8]
Ginnis struggled to establish himself on the World Cup tour the next season, being unable to earn any points in eight starts.[1] In the spring of 2018, the US team cut their men's slalom program, leaving Ginnis without financial support.[9] Another ACL tear kept him sidelined for the entire 2019 season.[5] In the 2020 season, Ginnis raced for Dartmouth College and had an early win on the Nor-Am Cup before suffering a groin injury in December.[4] Despite that, he was able to get another Nor-Am win and podium in February and had returned to training with the US team in Europe when the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the rest of the season.[1][4]
With the US unable to assure him of a spot on the team for the upcoming 2021 season, Ginnis made the decision to ski instead for his native country of Greece.[5] He recruited Sandy Vietze, his long-time friend and teammate, to assist with the transition and be his coach.[4] On 17 January 2021, Ginnis became the first Greek alpine racer to win World Cup points for Greece, finishing eleventh at a slalom in Flachau, Austria.[10] The Hellenic Olympic Committee praised him for his contribution to the sport in Greece.[10]
Yet another knee ligament injury during training in August 2021 forced Ginnis to sit out the entire next season and the 2022 Winter Olympics.[11]
Upon his return, Ginnis finally found success at the highest level of the sport during his breakthrough 2023 campaign. He achieved his first World Cup podium on 4 February as the runner-up in the slalom at Chamonix, France.[12] With his second-place finish, Ginnis became the first Greek skier in history to secure a podium position in a World Cup alpine ski race.[13] Two weeks later, at the World Championships in Courchevel, he won the silver medal in slalom – Greece's first world championships medal in any Winter Olympic sport.[14]
In 2024 Ginnis finished in the top fifteen in five races, including a ninth-place result at his second World Cup finals in Saalbach, Austria.[1]
A fractured osteophyte (a bone growth in the knee) and the resulting surgery needed to repair it ended Ginnis's 2025 season after just two races.[15] Although he was "hugely disappointed,"[16] he set a goal for himself of returning for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.[11] Despite extensive efforts at rehabilitation, Ginnis managed only one start in 2025–26, and he was forced to admit that complications from his most recent surgery prevented him from racing at the elite level.[2][13] On 15 February he announced on Instagram that the next day's Olympic slalom would be his final race.[13] Event organizers allowed Ginnis a ceremonial farewell run in which he gently slid down the slope to officially become an Olympian.[2]
World Cup results
Season standings
| Season | |||||||
| Age | Overall | Slalom | Giant slalom |
Super-G | Downhill | Combined | |
| 2017 | 22 | 153 | 59 | — | — | — | — |
| 2018 | 23 | no World Cup points earned | |||||
| 2019 | 24 | did not compete | |||||
| 2020 | 25 | no World Cup points earned | |||||
| 2021 | 26 | 113 | 38 | — | — | — | N/a |
| 2022 | 27 | did not compete | |||||
| 2023 | 28 | 70 | 23 | — | — | — | |
| 2024 | 29 | 61 | 23 | — | — | — | |
| 2025 | 30 | 132 | 46 | — | — | — | |
Race podiums
- 0 wins
- 1 podium – (1 SL); 3 top tens (3 SL)
| Season | ||||
| Date | Location | Discipline | Place | |
| 2023 | 4 Feb 2023 | Chamonix, France | Slalom | 2nd |
World Championship results
| Year | ||||||||
| Age | Slalom | Giant slalom |
Super-G | Downhill | Combined | Parallel | Team event | |
| Representing the United States | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 22 | — | — | — | — | — | N/a | 9 |
| Representing Greece | ||||||||
| 2021 | 26 | DNF2 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2023 | 28 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Olympic results
| Year | ||||||
| Age | Slalom | Giant slalom |
Super-G | Downhill | Team combined | |
| 2026 | 31 | DNF1 | – | — | — | — |
References
- ^ a b c d e f "AJ Ginnis biography". International Ski and Snowboard Federation. Retrieved 16 February 2026.
- ^ a b c d Garcka, Matt (21 February 2026). "From USA to Greece: AJ Ginnis Retires on Olympic Stage After Historic Slalom Career". Ski Racing Media. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
- ^ Kokkinidis, Tasos (18 February 2026). "The Final Bow: Greek Skiing Legend AJ Ginnis Retires at the Winter Olympics". GreekReporter.com. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Schwartznau, Karina (19 January 2021). "Greek-American AJ Ginnis is Capitalizing on New Opportunities". Ski Racing Media. Retrieved 16 February 2026.
- ^ a b c Kratochvilova, Michaela (10 September 2024). "AJ Ginnis Interview in SNOW Magazine". fischersports.com. Retrieved 16 February 2026.
- ^ "Results and analysis: 3rd Men's Slalom - Madonna di Campiglio" (PDF). International Ski and Snowboard Federation. Retrieved 16 February 2026.
- ^ "FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2017 - Alpine Team Event" (PDF). International Ski and Snowboard Federation. Retrieved 16 February 2026.
- ^ "Resi Stiegler, AJ Ginnis win slalom at U.S. Alpine Championships". ESPN. Associated Press. 26 March 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
- ^ Higgins, Sean (23 May 2018). "Down But Not Out; U.S. Men's Slalom Team Looks Toward the Future". Ski Racing Media. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
- ^ a b Chrysopoulos, Philip (28 January 2021). "Greek-American Skier Makes Comeback; Wins Historic Points for Greece". GreekReporter.com. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
- ^ a b Gerber Plech, Peter (18 April 2025). "AJ Ginnis Leaves Fischer After Nearly 30 Years, Eyes 2026 Olympic Comeback on New Skis". Ski Racing Media. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
- ^ "Audi FIS Ski World Cup Chamonix Men's SL (FRA)" (PDF). FIS. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
- ^ a b c Schneemann, Julia (15 February 2026). "The Last Starting Gate: Ski Racer AJ Ginnis to Close Career With Final Olympic Start". Snow Brains. Retrieved 16 February 2026.
- ^ "Skier AJ Ginnis wins Greece's first worlds medal on snow". espn.com. ESPN. Associated Press. 19 February 2023. Retrieved 16 February 2026.
- ^ Gerber Plech, Peter (10 December 2024). "Former U.S. Ski Team Racer AJ Ginnis Faces Season-Ending Surgery". Ski Racing Media. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
- ^ Schneemann, Julia (13 December 2024). "2024-25 World Cup Season Ends Prematurely for Greek-American Ski Racer AJ Ginnis". SnowBrains.com. Retrieved 24 February 2026.