Hirscher: Comeback ends with a heavy cruciate ligament tear - what happens now?

Hirscher: Comeback ends with a heavy cruciate ligament tear - what happens now?

Reiteralm, Österreich - Marcel Hirscher, the former ski dominator, has to bury his comeback dream after only a few races. On December 3, 2024, the 35-year-old announced that he suffered a cruciate ligament tear in the left knee during giant slalom training on the Reiteralm. According to Hirscher, this happened during a "harmless slip". He was already successfully operated on last night in Graz, but now the question is in the room whether he can ever return to the World Cup, such as Laola1 reported .

Hirscher had returned this season after a five-year break after winning his eighth overall World Cup title in 2019. His return began promising, with a 23rd place in his first race on October 26th in Sölden. Hirscher himself described the second run as "one of the most emotional moments of his career". Unfortunately, there were little pleasant results in the subsequent races: he left the slalom in Levi and in the second slalom in Gurgl he had to complain about his departure just a few seconds after the start. These setbacks finally led to the tragic incident in training, which ended his comeback suddenly, such as AP news .

The injury not only throws a shadow over Hirscher himself, but is also perceived by many ski fans as a bitter setback for the further course of the season. In a sport in which injuries are common, Hirscher is not the only star who is currently fighting with injury problems. Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, who replaced Hirscher in 2020 as an overall World Cup winner, is canceled due to his own injury for the entire season, while the five-time overall World Cup winner Mikaela Shiffrin is also affected by an accident. The coming weeks will show whether Hirscher will have the determination and strength to return at some point.