Ski great Marcel Hirscher confirms his first World Cup start in 5 years

SOELDEN, Austria — Austrian skiing great Marcel Hirscher has confirmed his start in the World Cup season-opening giant slalom on Sunday, returning to competitive skiing after 2,051 days.

“Back to the game that we love ... I've decided, I do this,” Hirscher said in a video posted Friday on his ski company's Instagram account.

The record-holder with eight straight overall titles before his retirement in 2019, Hirscher surprisingly announced his comeback to racing in April.

Hirscher will race on skis of his own brand, Van Deer-Red Bull, and start for the ski federation of the Netherlands, the native country of his mother Sylvia.

Hirscher waited to confirm his start in the first race of the season after his preparation period wasn't ideal. His team, which also includes his father Ferdinand, had to cut short a training camp in New Zealand due to unfavorable weather in August and Hirscher suffered from illness the following month, reducing his training days on skis and leaving him less time to find the best setup for his skis and boots.

“It’s logical that I’m not and can’t be at the same level I was at ... five winters is an extremely long time in ski racing," Hirscher said on the Van Deer-Red Bull website.

"The fact that I don’t have as much snow training as I need, well, that’s just because I live a completely different life now, where I have more responsibility.”

Hirscher's is one of two notable comebacks on Sunday, as former World Cup slalom champion Lucas Peinheiro Braathen will return after a one-year break and a switch from the Norwegian to the Brazilian ski federation.

Hirscher did not have to qualify for the World Cup again through lower-ranked FIS races and will start Sunday's race with a bib number in the lower 30s thanks to a wild card rule introduced in July by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation.

The rule allows former globe winners and world and Olympic champions who retired at least two years ago a return to the World Cup without going through qualifying, and a start position shortly after the 30 best-ranked racers.

While seemingly tailormade to enable Hirscher an immediate return to the top-level circuit, FIS secretary general Michel Vion said the rule had “nothing to do with Marcel Hirscher,” as initial plans within FIS for the introduction of wild cards had already come up “in the spring of 2023.”

Hirscher dominated the sport for a decade, racking up eight overall and 12 discipline titles in slalom and GS, and 67 race wins on the World Cup. He won 14 medals from major championships, including Olympic gold in GS and Alpine combined from the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

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Eric Willemsen on X: https://x.com/eWilmedia