Marcel Hirscher, who ended a five-year Alpine skiing retirement to compete this season, underwent season-ending knee surgery Monday after tearing his left ACL in training.
“Maybe I’m finally done with my journey,” Hirscher, a 35-year-old with two 2018 Olympic gold medals, said in a press release.
Hirscher sustained the injury in “a harmless slip” without falling in giant slalom training in Austria, according to his team.
Hirscher entered all three races so far this season with a best finish of 23rd in the opening GS in Soelden, Austria, on Oct. 27. That was his first race since March 2019, when he wrapped up an eighth consecutive World Cup overall title.
“Of course it’s a tough cut after eight months of a heartfelt project and a huge pity, because the whole team, including me, we all had other plans for this winter,” Hirscher said in the release. “It will certainly be hard to watch the races.”
For his comeback, Hirscher switched nationality from Austria to the Netherlands. His mom is Dutch.
Before this season, it was unclear whether Hirscher would bid for the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics.
“The project is at least for one more year, and then I think it’s done again because then I’m turning 36,” he told Dutch broadcaster NOS in July. “Then there’s a point where you are definitely getting too old for being a professional Alpine ski racer.”
