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Marcel Hirscher and his team have shared that they have left New Zealand and that Hirscher will not compete in the FIS races at Coronet Peak from August 27-31. Originally, the Dutch-Austrian ski racer was planning to start in four FIS races at Coronet Peak, but the Hirscher is now traveling back to Europe without having competed at any FIS race at all.
In an interview with the Austrian newspaper Krone, Hirscher explained that the rain and warm temperatures ruined his planned FIS comeback. “We still got to Coronet Peak as planned but saw on-site that it would have made little sense to stay longer due to the borderline snow conditions and the weather forecasts. So we decided to fly home a few days earlier than planned,” Hirscher stated. Nevertheless, the legendary ski racer shared that he had a positive time in New Zealand, and his training confirmed that his fitness level was adequate.
In his interview with Krone, Hirscher also expressed his shock at the tragic death of three members of the Korean National Ski Team. “We trained in Roundhill at the same time, and then came the shocking news of the accident, which was a shock for everyone,” Hirscher admitted. “It put everything into perspective.”
Coronet Peak had 20 centimeters (8 inches) of snowfall in the last 24 hours and has a current snow depth of between 40 centimeters (16 inches) and 120 centimeters (39 inches). The resort shared images from the mountain today, and conditions looked good, but maybe Hirscher’s team considered the risks and decided, due to the wildcard by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), not to bother with earning FIS points ahead of the Sölden World Cup opening. It will certainly ruffle a few feathers that Hirscher did not at least try to earn the points required to be eligible under the old rules before FIS introduced the wildcard earlier this month.
Under the definitions stated in the FIS rule book for the wildcard, a retired athlete can win a wildcard slot provided he or she has won a FIS World Cup Overall season title or an Olympic Gold Medal or World Championship Gold Medal. Alternatively, winners of a World Cup event season title, such as Downhill, Super-G, Giant Slalom, or Slalom, also qualify, provided they have won a minimum of five World Cups. The athlete who requests a wildcard must be retired from the FIS World Cup for a minimum of two and a maximum of ten years.
Marcel Hirscher has won a total of eight Overall World Cup Titles during his career, seven World Championships, and two Olympic Gold medals. He retired from ski racing in September 2019, so fulfills all the criteria set out by the FIS for the wildcard.
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Meanwhile, former Norwegian turned Brazilian ski racer Lucas Braathen has arrived in Coronet Peak and is set to compete for FIS points at the Slalom and Giant Slalom races. Since his retirement was less than a year ago, he has not fulfilled the FIS requirements despite having won a discipline World Cup title in the Slalom discipline.
