Sara Renner


Sara Renner is a Canadian cross-country skier who competed from 1994 to 2010. With Beckie Scott, she won the silver medal in the team sprint event at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and earned her best individual finish of eight in the 10 km classical event in those same games. She was born in Golden, British Columbia.

2006 Winter Olympics

coach Bjørnar Håkensmoen gave Sara Renner a ski pole after hers was broken when a competitor stepped on it during the cross-country team sprint at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Norway's athlete ended up fourth, implying that this selfless act of sportsmanship may well have cost the Norwegian team a medal. Renner gave Håkensmoen a bottle of wine as a thank you, while other Canadians responded with phone calls and letters to the Norwegian Embassy and sent 7,400 cans of maple syrup to Håkensmoen. The incident was immortalized in a 2010 Winter Olympics television commercial.

Retirement

She announced her retirement in Vancouver following her finish in the Women's 30 km, Mass Start event. She said: "I just left everything out there today," Renner said after carrying her three-year-old daughter, Aria, in her arms through a series of TV interviews. "It was a beautiful race in the pouring rain — quite the way to go out. To hear everyone cheering for me, it was absolutely inspiring."

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation.

Olympic Games

  • 1 medal –
Year Age 5 km 10 km 15 km Pursuit 30 km Sprint 4 × 5 km
relay 		Team
sprint
19982174—645416
20022513—17Cross-country skiing at the 2002 Winter Olympics – Women's 30 kilometre classical|98
200629816—1610Silver
201033—101534—7

World Championships

  • 1 medal –
Year Age 5 km 10 km 15 km Pursuit 30 km Sprint 4 × 5 km
relay 		Team
sprint
19972061585414
20012437—37386
20032616—17127—
200528—22—Bronze—10
200932921FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 – Women's 30 kilometre freestyle|——6

World Cup

Season standings

Individual podiums

  • 4 podiums –
No.SeasonDateLocationRaceLevelPlace
1 2005–06 11 December 2005

Team podiums

  • 2 podiums –
No.SeasonDateLocationRaceLevelPlaceTeammate
1 2000–01 13 January 2001

Personal life

Renner grew up at remote Mount Assiniboine Lodge, the oldest backcountry ski lodge in the Canadian Rockies, located southwest of Banff and Canmore, Alberta, just across the British Columbia provincial border. Her parents ran the high-altitude lodge for three decades, and she credits her youth there for her skiing success.
In 2001 Renner posed nude in a calendar called "Nordic Nudes" to help raise money for the Canadian women's Nordic ski team. Teammates Beckie Scott, Milaine Thériault, Jaime Fortier and sister Amanda Fortier also posed nude for the calendar.
Renner is married to retired Italian-Canadian alpine skier Thomas Grandi. Grandi had family support out for himself and his wife during the Turin Olympics.
On September 18, 2006, Renner announced that she was taking the year off to have a baby with husband Thomas Grandi. Renner came back after her baby was born, and lead the women's team to Vancouver 2010.
On February 2, 2007, Renner gave birth to a girl named Aria at a hospital in Banff, Alberta. She and Grandi live in Canmore, Alberta.