Marcel Hirscher’s cruciate ligament tear: The big comeback ends abruptly

Doctors in Radstadt diagnosed a torn cruciate ligament and a slight injury to the “external capsular apparatus” on Monday, and Hirscher was operated on in Graz that evening. The procedure went well, it was said on Tuesday, which marked the end of “eight months of a passion project”.

Based on the results, Hirscher’s comeback results are sobering

Hirscher had been working on this comeback for more than half a year, which not many people had expected. Competing against the world’s best again at the age of 35, after a four-year break, had been a courageous undertaking from the start – but that was exactly where the excitement lay. Hirscher had dominated skiing for almost a decade and not only left a vacuum in the Austrian team. Hirscher’s return occupied the World Cup, there were euphoric and critical voices, but both sides asked themselves whether he would actually be able to find his way back among the best – or whether it would just be a kind of farewell tour. It is difficult to give a clear answer to this now that the comeback has already ended at the beginning of December.

Based on the results, Hirscher’s results read soberingly: 23rd place in the opening giant slalom in Sölden, too slow the first running time in the slalom in Levi, fall in the slalom in Gurgl. Anyone who, like parts of the Austrian public, had immediately expected trophies and crystal balls from Hirscher had to correct their forecast in November, although such expectations were unrealistic anyway. However, a look behind the results reveals a little more. In all three races, Hirscher started with high numbers outside the top 30 and therefore had more difficult conditions – what was possible under better circumstances was shown in the second round in Sölden, when he achieved the third best running time on a better, softer slope.

The ice slopes in Levi and Gurgl posed major challenges for almost all athletes, but disillusionment spread among Hirscher (“It’s no fun like that”) and among his ski brand’s team: the material coordination was incorrect, and the otherwise energetic Hirscher felt uncomfortable the slopes and therefore wanted to retire in December for intensive training to work on his form and his skis.

Hirscher sends quotes from his sickbed, with reflective thoughts

In any case, that was a big part of the comeback story: Hirscher had spent a lot of time building up his own ski brand in recent years and had repeatedly refined the material in training, which is working well for others this season: the Norwegians Henrik Kristoffersen and Timon Haugan, for example, both in the Van Deer and Red Bull teams, got along better than last year. The fact that the master himself returned once again brought attention on the one hand, but on the other hand, above all, technical skiing knowledge for “his” athletes, as Hirscher says: “I was able to contribute a little to future successes (…) and that was it Part of my mission.”

Hirscher wouldn’t be Hirscher if he didn’t speak professionally and matter-of-factly the morning after this mission ended. He sent out bedside quotes, with reflective thoughts: “What does this all say to me? That I was incredibly lucky in the first part of my career. I would rather be at 35 now than at 25 in the middle of my wedding.” Hirscher hid a small “maybe” in the statement that his journey was coming to an end with this injury: He wants to tackle physiotherapy immediately, the discipline of a professional athlete he maintained himself from the end of his career until his comeback.

With Hirscher, you usually only get an insight into his true emotional world when he verbally slips into dialect. Same this time too. That’s a “big cut,” or in good Austrian terms: “Brutal Oasch.”