Austria’s Mathis Ends Racing Career

By Published On: September 24th, 2018Comments Off on Austria’s Mathis Ends Racing Career

Austrian giant slalom specialist, Marcel Mathis, today announced via Instagram the end of his active ski racing career. The Vorarlberg native became team world champion at the 2013 World Ski Championships in Schladming, Austria, and celebrated two third-place finishes on the World Cup.

“In the end it was not what I expected of me,” Mathis says of his retirement. “I would like to have skied faster and better, but it just did not work that way anymore. It was never my goal to just ride, but I always wanted to ski really well. I could not do that anymore and that’s why I decided to say goodbye to professional skiing. ”

“Of course that’s hard to make such a decision,” he continued. “But at some point you have to deal with it and ask yourself if it all makes any sense. The two podiums in Schladming and Bansko and the gold medal with the team in Schladming were certainly my sporting highlights, which I am also very proud of.”

Mathis enjoyed a meteoric rise in World Cup GS with third-place finishes at Bansko, Bulgaria, in 2012 and later that season at World Cup Finals in Schladming in only his second full season on the World Cup. He was also part of the gold-medal winning Austrian team at the 2013 World Ski Championship team event in Schladming.

Mathis spent the better part of two seasons ranked inside of the top 15 in the world for GS before struggling to find his form and spending time off of the Austrian team and training with independent team Global Racing, coached by former GMVS coach Paul Epstein. Although he did make his way back to the World Cup, Mathis was never quite able to reclaim the form that brought him two podium finishes in the 2012 season.

“I’ve been living with my girlfriend in London for five months,” Mathis said of his future plans. “I have settled in very well here and already have a very interesting job. ”

The Austrian Ski Association thanks Marcel for his dedication and commitment in recent years and wish him all the best for his private and professional future!

Release courtesy of the Austrian Ski Association.

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