Marcel Hirscher – One victory shy of a record
Anyone vaguely au fait with alpine ski sports will certainly be familiar with the name Marcel Hirscher. At only 28 years of age, this athlete from Salzburg has already gone down in skiing history as one of the most successful racers of all time, so much so that his two victories on Kitzbühel’s Ganslernhang came as no surprise: in 2013 and 2017, the Annerberg racer rejoiced after his triumphs.
“It’s overwhelming. Winning in front of this audience is just amazing”
...Hirscher commented after last year’s win.
Hirscher is the first male alpine ski racer to win the overall World Cup six times – and that in successive years! Furthermore, he boasts a collection of eight little crystal globes – four each for the Slalom and Giant Slalom. He also triumphed three times in alpine ski junior world championships. As if that weren’t enough, four gold medals for alpine ski world championships have also found their way into his collection. With 117 top three placements, only Swedish racer Ingemar Stenmark is a match for him when it comes to having accumulated the most World Cup podium successes.
Marcel Hirscher has set many records in his skiing career thus far and was named Austria’s athlete of the year in 2012, 2015, 2016 and 2017. What is more, the ANOC-Award for “Europe’s Sportsman of the Year” was presented to him in 2017.
At the start of his training in August for the current season Hirscher broke his ankle, which meant he had to miss the World Cup opener in Sölden. At the next race in Beaver Creek, however, he was back on winning form. He then went on to win the Giant Slalom for the fifth time running in Alta Badia at the end of December – with an incredible 1.7 second lead to boot. The sheer unparalleled nature of Marcel Hirscher’s achievements give us hope that there will be more victories and records to look forward to in the future. Naturally, he has set his sights on the very top of the rostrum for this year’s Slalom race in Kitzbühel. Should he succeed, then he’d smash the current Austrian record, set by Hermann Maier, who won 54 times during his career.
Photo © K.S.C.
