Marcel Hirscher: Austrian calls time on record-breaking career
- Published
Hirscher announced his retirement in front of his World Cup trophies
World and Olympic champion Marcel Hirscher has retired after a career which saw him win an eighth consecutive Alpine Ski World Cup title this year.
The Austrian, 30, is regarded as one of the greatest alpine skiers of all time.
He won two gold medals at the 2018 Winter Olympics and seven World Championships from 2013 to 2019.
But Hirscher told a news conference on Wednesday he found he was taking longer to recover, adding: "Today is the day when I end my active career".
"I always wanted to stop while still winning races. I'm not ready anymore to pay the price."
Hirscher already has two more overall World Cup titles than the second most successful skier in history, another Austrian Annemarie Moser-Proell, who won six.
He began skiing at the age of two and was taught by his father, who has coached him throughout his career.
Austrian papers had been running headlines for days on the expected retirement of Hirscher, with Wednesday's Oesterreich tabloid front page reading "Bye Marcel!" and the Kronen tabloid leading on "Thank you Marcel!"