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| disciplines = [[Slalom skiing|Slalom]], [[
| club = Red Hornet - Edelweiss, CA<br>[[Colorado Buffaloes|University of Colorado]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|1945|01|10}}
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'''Vladimir Peter Sabich Jr.''' (January 10, 1945 – March 21, 1976) was an American [[Alpine skiing|alpine ski racer]], a member of the [[United States Ski Team|U.S. Ski Team]] on the [[FIS Alpine Ski World Cup|World Cup]] circuit in the late 1960s. He competed at the [[Alpine skiing at the 1968 Winter Olympics|1968 Winter Olympics]] and was the pro ski racing champion in 1971 and 1972. Sabich was killed by gunshot under controversial circumstances involving [[Claudine Longet]] in 1976.<ref name=spsbatltl>{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N1gEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA22 |journal=Skiing Heritage |last=Meyers |first=Charlie |title=Spider Sabich: a tale larger than life |date=September 2006 |pages=22–25}}</ref>
==Early life==
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==Olympics and World Cup==
Sabich skied on the [[FIS Alpine Ski World Cup|World Cup]] circuit for its first four seasons, and finished fifth in the [[Alpine skiing at the 1968 Winter Olympics – Men's slalom|slalom]] in the thick fog at the [[Alpine skiing at the 1968 Winter Olympics|1968 Winter Olympics]] at age 22. His sole World Cup victory came two months later in April, a slalom at [[Heavenly Mountain Resort|Heavenly Valley]] at South Lake Tahoe, just east of his hometown of Kyburz.<ref name=hvre >{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OXFYAAAAIBAJ&pg=7563%2C2743650 |newspaper=Spokane Daily Chronicle |agency=Associated Press |title=Heavenly Valley races end |date=April 8, 1968 |page=17}}</ref><ref>[http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/613.html?sector=AL&competitorid=52841&type=result FIS-ski.com]
Sabich reached the World Cup [[podium]] (top three) three more times in the slalom in 1969. He finished seventh in the [[1969 Alpine Skiing World Cup|1969]] season standings for the slalom and 11th overall, but fell out of the top ten in the slalom the following year.
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Longet, 34, was arrested and charged with the shooting. At the trial, Longet repeated the claim that the gun had accidentally fired when Sabich was showing her how to use it.
The [[Pitkin County, Colorado|Pitkin County]] Sheriffs, who made the arrest, made two procedural errors that aided Longet's defense: without warrants, they took a blood sample from her and confiscated her diary. According to prosecutors, the sample showed the presence of a trace amount of [[cocaine]] in her blood, and her diary reportedly contradicted her claim that her relationship with Sabich had not soured. In addition, the gun (which had a defect requiring multiple trigger pulls before discharging){{cn|date=December 2023}} was mishandled by non-weapons experts. As they were unable to cite any of the disallowed material, prosecutors did use the autopsy report to suggest that when Sabich was struck, he was bent over, facing away, and at least {{convert|6|ft}} from Longet,<ref name=spsbatltl/> which would be inconsistent with the position and relative distance of someone demonstrating the operation of a firearm.
The jury convicted her of a lesser charge—misdemeanor [[criminal negligence]]—and sentenced her to pay a small fine and spend 30 days in jail.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.answers.com/topic/claudine-longet|title = Answers - the Most Trusted Place for Answering Life's Questions|website = [[Answers.com]]}}</ref> The judge allowed Longet to choose the days she served, believing that this arrangement would allow her to spend the most time with her children, and she chose to work off most of her sentence on weekends. (Critical reaction to the verdict and sentencing was exacerbated when she subsequently vacationed with her defense attorney, Ron Austin, who was married at the time; Longet and Austin later married and still live in Aspen.)
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[[Category:American male alpine skiers]]
[[Category:Alpine skiers at the 1968 Winter Olympics]]
[[Category:Olympic alpine skiers
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:American people of Croatian descent]]
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[[Category:1976 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Placerville, California]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from El Dorado County, California]]
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