Former ski champion Marcel Hirscher confirms 1st start in 5 years

SOELDEN, Austria — Austrian skiing great Marcel Hirscher has confirmed his start in Sunday's season-opening giant slalom, making his return to competitive skiing after 2,051 days.

“Back to the game that we love ... I've decided, I do this,” Hirscher says 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. The team had to cut short a training camp in New Zealand 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.

Hirscher did not have to qualify for the World Cup again through lower-ranked FIS races and will start Sunday's race with bib No. 31 thanks to a wild card rule introduced by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation in July.

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