Tomás Birkner de Miguel, the newest addition to an Argentinian skiing dynasty

The Birkner family are synonymous with alpine skiing in Argentina. It’s a time-honoured dynasty which continues to add new names to its line four decades later.

With Tomás Birkner de Miguel making his debut at Beijing 2022, the family have now had nine skiers at the Winter Olympic games.

The Birkner family’s Olympic story began back in the 60s, when Jorge Birkner made the move to Bariloche, the cradle of winter sports in Argentina. Just 15 years later, two of his children, Jorge Jr. and Magdalena, were competing for the first time at Sarajevo 1984. Four years after that, at Calgary 1988, they were joined by Ignacio and Carolina.

Beyond these four siblings, a further two, Teresita and Ramón, never got to compete at the Olympics, but they did contribute to the dynasty all the same. Teresita’s marriage to Mario Simari gave birth to three Olympic skiers (Cristian Javier, María Belén, and Macarena), while Ramón and Florencia de Miguel had Tomás Birkner de Miguel, the latest to add his name to the list.

Alongside Jorge Birkner Ketelhohn, who competed at Sochi 2014, the family boasts a total of nine alpine skiers but their Olympic feats don’t end there. Two of Magdalena’s children, Francisco (gold medallist at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing) and Bautista Saubidet, have competed in Olympic windsurfing, while a third, Celina, promises to join them shortly.

Skiing comes from his mother’s side

Despite what you may imagine, it was Tomas' mother, with whom he grew up, that instilled in him a passion for skiing.

“There are lots of Olympic athletes on my father’s side of the family but I was raised by my mother and I didn’t spend much time skiing with the Olympians related to my father, who are on the Simari side”, he told AFP Agency.

“I got into skiing because my mother taught me from a very early age and I really enjoyed it. I was always asking her to take me out. She’d put me behind the racers and I thought it was so much fun and so fast. I’ve been skiing as long as I can remember”, reflected Birkner de Miguel, who completed his training in the United States.

Following his own path, Tomás Birkner de Miguel has gone far in the sport. He has taken part in the last four World Championships, where his best performance was a 35th-place finish in the slalom in 2015, while he has also competed in seven World Cup races.

Technical specialist

Tomás Birkner de Miguel excels in the technical challenges of slalom and giant slalom, two disciplines which have seen him crowned Argentinian national champion during his career and the events in which he competed at Beijing 2022.

However, luck has deserted the Bariloche-born athlete at the Yanqing National Alpine Skiing Centre, and he has been unable to finish either of the two events.

He was the second alpine skier to compete for Argentina in the People’s Republic of China, after Francesca Baruzzi, who closed out her participation on Friday 11 February. Also from Bariloche, she finished 29th in the giant slalom and Super-G (highest Latin American finisher in both events), but was unable to complete the women’s slalom.