{"id":2448338,"date":"2019-09-04T15:52:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-04T21:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/olympic-skiing-champion-marcel-hirscher-retires\/"},"modified":"2019-09-04T15:52:00","modified_gmt":"2019-09-04T21:52:00","slug":"olympic-skiing-champion-marcel-hirscher-winner-of-eight-overall-titles-retires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/olympic-skiing-champion-marcel-hirscher-winner-of-eight-overall-titles-retires\/","title":{"rendered":"Olympic skiing champion Marcel Hirscher, winner of eight overall titles, retires"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.6961602671119\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-312323-305\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/Austria_Skiing_Hirscher_35877-f3837-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/Austria_Skiing_Hirscher_35877-f3837.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"AP | AP | Austria's ski star Marcel Hirscher speaks during a press conference announcing the end of his skiing career in Salzburg, Austria, Wednesday, Sept.4, 2019. (AP Photo\/Kerstin Joensson)\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"0.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"12\">\n<p><strong>Austria&#8217;s ski star Marcel Hirscher speaks during a press conference announcing the end of his skiing career in Salzburg, Austria, Wednesday, Sept.4, 2019. (AP Photo\/Kerstin Joensson)<\/strong><br \/>AP | AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/Austria_Skiing_Hirscher_35877-f3837.jpg\" alt=\"Austria's ski star Marcel Hirscher speaks during a press conference announcing the end of his skiing career in Salzburg, Austria, Wednesday, Sept.4, 2019. (AP Photo\/Kerstin Joensson)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/Austria_Skiing_Hirscher_35877-f3837-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/Austria_Skiing_Hirscher_35877-f3837-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"AP | AP | Austria's ski star Marcel Hirscher speaks during a press conference announcing the end of his skiing career in Salzburg, Austria, Wednesday, Sept.4, 2019. (AP Photo\/Kerstin Joensson)\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"0.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"12\">\n<p><strong>Austria&#8217;s ski star Marcel Hirscher speaks during a press conference announcing the end of his skiing career in Salzburg, Austria, Wednesday, Sept.4, 2019. (AP Photo\/Kerstin Joensson)<\/strong><br \/>AP | AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/Austria_Skiing_Hirscher_35877-f3837-1.jpg\" alt=\"Austria's ski star Marcel Hirscher speaks during a press conference announcing the end of his skiing career in Salzburg, Austria, Wednesday, Sept.4, 2019. (AP Photo\/Kerstin Joensson)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/Austria_Skiing_Hirscher_35877-f3837-2-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/Austria_Skiing_Hirscher_35877-f3837-2.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"AP | AP | Austria's ski star Marcel Hirscher speaks during a press conference announcing the end of his skiing career in Salzburg, Austria, Wednesday, Sept.4, 2019. (AP Photo\/Kerstin Joensson)\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"0.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"12\">\n<p><strong>Austria&#8217;s ski star Marcel Hirscher speaks during a press conference announcing the end of his skiing career in Salzburg, Austria, Wednesday, Sept.4, 2019. (AP Photo\/Kerstin Joensson)<\/strong><br \/>AP | AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/Austria_Skiing_Hirscher_35877-f3837-2.jpg\" alt=\"Austria's ski star Marcel Hirscher speaks during a press conference announcing the end of his skiing career in Salzburg, Austria, Wednesday, Sept.4, 2019. (AP Photo\/Kerstin Joensson)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/olympic-skiing-champion-marcel-hirscher-retires\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/olympic-skiing-champion-marcel-hirscher-retires\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">VIENNA \u2014 Marcel Hirscher\u2019s biggest wish was to leave Alpine skiing as a winner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">On Wednesday, the two-time Olympic champion from Austria did just that.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Hirscher, the first skier to win eight overall World Cup titles, made a live announcement on Austrian national TV that he is retiring after dominating his sport for more than a decade.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI always wanted to end my career as long as I am winning races. I didn\u2019t want to oversee the moment where things get worse,\u201d said the 30-year-old Hirscher, who won Olympic gold in giant slalom and Alpine combined in Pyeongchang in 2018. \u201cMy decision is two weeks old. I think it is good the way it is. This feels right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Hirscher\u2019s retirement is no surprise.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">At last season\u2019s World Cup Finals in March, he openly questioned his own motivation to chase more titles, after expressing similar doubts a year ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">After marrying long-term girlfriend Laura Moisl and becoming a father in the offseason in 2018, he said \u201cblue and red are not the most important things in life,\u201d referring to the colors of the gates in a slalom race.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cMany people didn\u2019t take me seriously when I talked about considering retirement,\u201d said Hirscher, adding he had a lot of potential projects he could start working on \u201cbut nothing is concrete yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Traveling the circuit with his own 10-man team, including father Ferdinand as a coach, Hirscher dominated the sport for so long that he is certain to be remembered as one of the all-time greats. No other male skier has won more than five overall titles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Hirscher won eight, despite the fact that he rarely competed in super-G and didn\u2019t race a single downhill in his World Cup career. But he excelled in slalom and GS and won a total of 12 season titles in the technical disciplines.<\/p>\n<p>He won his sixth straight overall title at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/marcel-hirscher-gs-race-crystal-globe-at-world-cup-finals\/\">2017 World Cup Finals in Aspen<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Hirscher won 67 of his 245 World Cup races, trailing only Ingemar Stenmark (86) and Lindsey Vonn (82) on the all-time list.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">He also won 14 medals at major championships, including nine golds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThe reality has become bigger than my dreams when I started skiing as a kid,\u201d Hirscher said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Competing on the World Cup since 2007, Hirscher started winning races in 2009, the same year Hermann Maier \u2014 another icon of Austrian ski racing \u2014 retired.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Sponsored by the same bank, Hirscher and Maier have since been appearing in many TV commercials together.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">One of his most emotional wins was his run to win gold in slalom at the world championships in Schladming in 2013. Austrian men and women had failed to win an individual event at their home event but Hirscher withstood the pressure of the ski-mad nation as he delivered in the concluding slalom.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Hirscher made worldwide headlines in December 2015, narrowly escaping a freak accident during a night slalom in Italy when a drone carrying a TV camera came down and shattered on the icy slope just a few meters behind him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The incident prompted FIS to ban camera drones from its races.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Known for sticking to one of the toughest workout regimes on the ski circuit, Hirscher managed to steer clear of major injuries during his career \u2014 unlike many of his competitors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI want to be able to play football with my kid, I want to go moto crossing, I want to go hiking in the mountains,\u201d Hirscher said. \u201cNow I can still do all these things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The Austrian suffered a scaphoid fracture that ruled him out of the world championships in 2011, and he fractured an ankle bone in the buildup to 2017-18, but ended up winning a record 13 World Cup races and two Olympic gold medals that season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Many skiers reacted to Hirscher\u2019s retirement on social media.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt\u2019s been a tough year for ski racing, the legend (Marcel Hirscher) has announced his retirement,\u201d American standout Lindsey Vonn, who ended her career in February, wrote on Twitter. \u201cCongratulations on an amazing career my friend. Racing in the same era as you has been an honor. 8 overall titles is a record no one will ever break!\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Norway\u2019s Aksel Lund Svindal, who won two overall titles before Hirscher\u2019s dominance started, called it \u201can absolute honor competing with you \u2026 the greatest skier of all times. Congrats on an amazing career.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">In a video message shown on TV, Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen said: \u201cIt\u2019s a pity but it\u2019s the right decision: One cannot achieve more than what you have achieved.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Hirscher\u2019s departure leaves a huge gap in the Austrian men\u2019s ski team, which has struggled to develop other top skiers in recent years. Austrian ski federation president Peter Schroecksnadel said \u201cit\u2019s never possible\u201d to really replace a champion like Hirscher, Maier, Benjamin Raich or Stephen Eberharter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cFor sure Marcel leaves a gap but others will develop,\u201d Schroecksnadel said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The search for a new overall World Cup champion starts Oct. 27 with the traditional giant slaloms on the Rettenbach glacier in Soelden, Austria.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/olympic-skiing-champion-marcel-hirscher-retires\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Austria&#8217;s ski star Marcel Hirscher speaks during a press conference announcing the end of his skiing career in Salzburg, Austria, Wednesday, Sept.4, 2019. (AP Photo\/Kerstin Joensson)AP | AP Austria&#8217;s ski star Marcel Hirscher speaks during a press conference announcing the end of his skiing career in Salzburg, Austria, Wednesday, Sept.4, 2019. (AP Photo\/Kerstin Joensson)AP | [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2448338","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-26 05:09:00","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2448338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448338\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2448338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2448338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2448338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}