Industry News
Marcel Hirscher’s comeback season ended rather abruptly after the Dutch-Austrian ski racer suffered a torn ligament during training on the Reiteralm, Austria, on Monday, December 2. The 35-year-old athlete had staged a comeback to the FIS Alpine World Cup circuit after five years of retirement this season. For the comeback, Hirscher had switched nationality and competed for the Netherlands, his mother’s birth country.
“Cruciate ligament gone, project over!”
— Marcel Hirscher
During Giant Slalom training on the Reiteralm, Hirscher slid out in what initially seemed a harmless slip. However, Hirscher tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee with a slight injury to the outer capsule apparatus. He shared a video of the slip on his social media account.
Hirscher had surgery that same evening in a private clinic in Graz, Austria, where he was operated on by Dr. Jürgen Mandl and Dr. Mark Passl, two specialists in knee surgeries. He will remain at the private clinic for two to three days for observation before starting rehabilitation and physiotherapy for his knee. It is Hirscher’s first ligament injury in his nine-year World Cup 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,” the injured athlete mulled. “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.”
The Dutch-Austrian ski racer is gutted to be ending his comeback season prematurely. Whether he will return to the World Cup in 2025-26 is at this point unsure, as Hirscher states cautiously, “Maybe I’m finally done with my journey.” When he announced his comeback in April this year, it was suggested that the comeback would only be for the 2024-25 season, with a special focus on the World Championships at Saalbach in Austria in 2025. The comeback after five years of retirement had been made possible by the introduction of a wildcard system by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS). It is the same system Lindsey Vonn is seeking to utilize for her comeback to the World Cup circuit.
Marcel Hirscher won a total of 67 World Cup titles from 2012 to 2019. He earned an incredible eight successive Overall World Cup titles during his active career, making him the most successful alpine ski racer by that measure. He also won a total of seven World Championships and two Olympic Gold medals. His comeback to competitive ski racing was not without critics who suggested he was getting an unfair advantage over younger, aspiring athletes trying to break into the World Cup circuit by awarding him a bib straight after the top 30-ranked skiers without having had to earn the FIS points for that privilege like other ski racers have to. On the flip side, proponents stress that the attention Hirscher’s comeback brought to Alpine ski racing was good for the sport overall.
Meanwhile, Lindsey Vonn has announced her plans to return to competitive ski racing and has been training with the U.S. Ski Team in Copper Mountain, Colorado. According to eye witnesses, like Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt, the 40-year-old skiing legend appeared to be in fantastic shape and putting down impressive training runs. Vonn was quick to share her shock at Hirscher’s injury on his Instagram page, saying “Noooooooooo!!!!! I’m so sad!!!! 😢 now I have no comeback buddy! Please heal fast!!!🙏🏻”
