Marcel Hirscher
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- Born:
- March 2, 1989, Annaberg-Lungötz, Austria (age 35)
Marcel Hirscher (born March 2, 1989, Annaberg-Lungötz, Austria) Austrian skier who won a record eight consecutive World Cup overall championships (2012–19).
Hirscher grew up in the Alpine village of Annaberg-Lungötz, where his father, who was also his coach, and his mother operated a skiing school. He attributed his success in Alpine skiing’s technical events (the slalom and the giant slalom) to the tutelage of his father, who placed a strong emphasis on striving for perfect technique, and to his own personal discipline and drive to win. Hirscher began skiing at age 2 and entered his first Fédération Internationale de Ski (FIS) race in 2004 at age 15. He made his World Cup debut in 2007—the same year that he graduated from Bad Hofgastein’s ski-management school—and claimed a gold (giant slalom) and a silver (slalom) medal at the FIS junior world championships. (He captured two more gold medals at the 2008 junior worlds.)
After struggling to recover from a broken ankle in 2011, he returned to form, securing his first World Cup overall title in 2012 and two medals (gold in the slalom and silver in the giant slalom) at the 2013 FIS World Alpine Championships. In 2015 Hirscher claimed an unprecedented fourth consecutive men’s overall World Cup title, and he also won his third consecutive slalom season title and placed first in the giant slalom for his second season title in that event since 2012. In addition, he registered his 31st career first-place win in World Cup competition, and he scored two medals at the 2015 world championships, a silver medal in the giant slalom and an unexpected gold in the Alpine combined.
Despite Hirscher’s domination at the world championships and on the World Cup circuit, an Olympic gold medal still eluded him. He competed in the men’s slalom and giant slalom at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, placing fifth and fourth, respectively. At the 2014 Sochi (Russia) Winter Games, Hirscher placed fourth in the giant slalom. In the slalom, however, he narrowly missed the gold medal when his time of 1 min 42.12 sec was bested by fellow Austrian Mario Matt, who won the competition—and the gold medal—by only 0.28 sec.
Hirscher continued to dominate the World Cup competitions, winning overall titles from 2015 through 2019 to establish a new record of eight straight overall championships. He won Olympic gold at the 2018 Winter Games in P’yŏngch’ang, South Korea, winning the giant slalom and combined events. He retired in September 2019 with 67 World Cup race victories, the third highest win total in history at the time of his retirement.