Alpine skiing: Painful end: ski star Hirscher seriously injured

It is the painful end of his passion project. Ski star Marcel Hirscher tore his cruciate ligament during training and will be out for the rest of the season. The 35-year-old’s career may also be over. “Perhaps I am now finally finished with my journey,” said Hirscher in a statement from his team. “What remains is the love of skiing,” the former alpine dominator also wrote on Instagram.

Hirscher returned to the World Cup at the beginning of this season after a break of more than five years. His comeback electrified the ski world. The eight-time overall World Cup winner was accompanied by the media every step of the way during the opening weekend in Sölden at the end of October. In the giant slalom on the Rettenbachferner he scored points straight away, but in the subsequent slaloms in Levi and Gurgl he came away empty-handed.

Re-entry is bumpy

The two-time Olympic champion and seven-time world champion had already tried to dampen public expectations before the season. After the first three races of the season at the latest, it was finally clear to him how much the competition and material had developed during his long absence. So he was “out of place,” said Hirscher after his exit from Gurgl.

He wanted to work intensively in the period leading up to the technical races in Val d’Isère, France on December 14th and 15th and then attack there again.

Hearing a scream of pain

Now the return, initially planned for one winter, came to an abrupt end. Hirscher posted a video on social media that shows him on a training ride at the Reiteralm in Austria. The veteran slipped briefly at one point without falling. A scream of pain can be heard in the video. “Cruciate ligament gone, project over,” said Hirscher, commenting on the drama that occurred on Monday. His left knee was operated on in Graz that same evening.

It’s a “hard cut,” says Hirscher. From now on it will “certainly be hard to watch the races”. Above all, the Alpine Ski World Cup in Saalbach-Hinterglemm next February was another goal of the 67-time World Cup winner. Since this season he has been skiing for his own ski brand and no longer for Austria, but for the Netherlands, his mother’s home country.

Until you get injured, “have a lot of fun”

The past eight months had been “intensive” and “a lot of fun,” explained Hirscher. He would like to thank everyone “who made this incredible journey possible and accompanied me on it.” As an active driver, it’s probably over for him.