Gros was born at
Sauze d'Oulx, in the
province of Turin in the
Piedmont region. He learned to ski at an early age, thanks to Aldo Monaci and Aldo Zulian. At the age of 8, he was for the first time on the podium of a local race. Gros made his debut in the World Cup at age 18 in December 1972. In that
1973 season, he won two races in
Val d'Isère and
Madonna di Campiglio; he was the youngest Italian skier ever to win a World Cup race. Two years later he won the overall title, sharing this result in Italy only with his friend and rival
Gustav Thöni and with
Alberto Tomba. Thöni had won the overall title the three preceding seasons and would reclaim it in
1975; he was the runner-up in 1974, and if not for Gros, would've won an unthinkable five consecutive overall titles. Gros also won the bronze medal in the
giant slalom at the
1974 World Championships in
St. Moritz. His most notable and best result was the gold medal in the
slalom at the
1976 Winter Olympics: he preceded the silver medalist Thöni, in the most successful race ever for Italy at the Winter Olympics. According to Gros, that race was also significant in which he defeated the then almost unbeatable
Ingemar Stenmark of
Sweden, to which Gros had been second six times in that
1976 World Cup season. Gros won another world championship medal in
1978, taking silver in slalom. Stenmark's dominance was the major factor in Gros' limited success in the late 1970s. During his career, Piero Gros won a total of 12 World Cup races; 7 in giant slalom and 5 in slalom. He had 35 World Cup podiums (top 3) and 98 top ten finishes. Gros retired from international competition following the
1982 season, at the age of 27. ==World Cup results==