Marcel Hirscher suffers season-ending injury: "Maybe I’m finally done with my journey"
The two-time Olympic champion sustained a ruptured cruciate ligament in his left knee during training on Monday and underwent successful surgery.
Alpine Skiing
Marcel Hirscher’s comeback season in elite alpine skiing has come to an abrupt end — and perhaps so has the second chapter of his career.
The 35-year-old Austrian-born star, who returned from retirement to compete under the flag of the Netherlands, suffered “a torn cruciate ligament in his left knee with a slight injury to the outer capsule apparatus” during training in Reiteralm on Monday, his team announced in a press release on Tuesday (3 December).
The eight-time overall Crystal Globe winner sustained the injury following what was described as a “harmless slip” and underwent surgery Monday evening in Graz.
“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,” said Hirscher, who will remain in hospital for two to three days for observation.
“It will certainly be hard to watch the races," he added. "As is unfortunately the case with skiing: part of the game. Maybe I'm finally done with my journey.”
The two-time Olympic champion from PyeongChang 2018 returned to World Cup racing for the 2024/25 season thanks to a wild card from FIS.
In his comeback race in Sölden, he finished 23rd, more than two seconds off the pace. Meanwhile, in the slaloms in Levi and Gurgl, he failed to score any points.
This is the first major injury suffered by Hirscher over his glorious career: “For the first time, I’m experiencing the painful issue of cruciate ligaments first-hand, which so many have already had to go through,” he said.
“What remains is that these eight months were intense and I had a lot of fun. I would like to thank everyone who made this incredible journey possible and accompanied me on it.”