Irene Epple first broke through internationally with a second place in the 1978 World Championship downhill in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, where her younger sister Maria Epple won the title in the giant slalom. At the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid Irene Epple won a silver medal in the giant slalom and in 1982 she won giant slalom and Alpine combined World Cup titles. After her ski career, during which she won 11 World Cup races, Epple began medical studies in München and earned her medical degree in 1992, and in November 1994 she was married Theo Waigel, who would serve as German Finance Minister from 1989-1998. In 1980 Irene Epple was elected German Sportswoman of the Year.