The Austrian Marcel Hirscher, now flying the Dutch flag, his mother’s country, confirmed on Friday that at the age of 35 he would make his return to the World Cup during the inaugural giant slalom in Sölden (western Austria) on Sunday.
“It’s bound to be a situation with mixed feelings. On the one hand, there is Marcel, the skier who wants to be competitive and as fast as possible. And on the other side there is this passion project, finding yourself at the start, looking down and saying to yourself that it’s incredible to find yourself there again”explained Marcel Hirscher in a video posted on the Instagram account of his ski brand van Deer.
“I made up my mind and said to myself: ‘Do it!’. Back in the game, this game we love »he added, ski helmet on his head and smile on his lips, in German tinged with his Salzburg accent.
Record holder for Ski World Cup titles, Marcel Hirscher, who was then skiing with the Austrian team, decided to end his career at the end of summer 2019. After 2,051 days of break, he will take on Sunday his return to the Netherlands team, his mother’s native country.
The Dutch Federation announced at the start of the week its return to the World Cup on Sunday in Sölden, but then qualified by specifying that this would only be the case if the skier felt well.
Marcel Hirscher’s last race dates back to March 17, 2019 in Soldeu in Andorra, with a 14th place in slalom, when he had already secured an eighth large crystal globe, a reward given to the winner of the World Cup and the skier Austrian did not give up between 2012 and 2019.
Considered by many to be the best skier in history, Hirscher won 67 World Cup races, including one on the Rettenbach glacier (five podiums for seven starts) where he will return to the white circle.
Five-time individual world champion (three times in slalom, once in giant slalom and once in combined) and double world team champion, the native of Annaberg in the Salzburg region won two Olympic titles in 2018 in Pyeongchang ( South Korea), in giant slalom and combined.
