Latest news with #Saalbach
Reuters
07-08-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Austrian Venier bows out as a world champion ahead of Olympics
Aug 7 (Reuters) - Super-G world champion Stephanie Venier announced her retirement on Thursday, six months before the Milano-Cortina Olympics, with the Austrian saying she was no longer prepared to risk her health and wanted to go out at the top. The 31-year-old Austrian won the first gold medal of her senior Alpine skiing career on home snow last February at the Saalbach world championships. Venier took part in the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, failing to finish the downhill, and missed the 2022 Beijing Games. "The thought of ending my career isn't new -- it's been growing inside me for a while," she said in a statement. "The deep will and determination required for elite sport just hasn't been there in recent months in the way I expect from myself. "Even though the Olympic Games are coming up next year, now feels like exactly the right time to bring my racing career to a close." Venier, who made her World Cup debut in 2013 and was a junior world champion in Super-G that same year, earned three World Cup wins and a total of 12 podiums. "Fortunately, I was spared from major injuries, but I no longer want to push the recurring knee problems and risk my long-term health," she said. "As the saying goes: the best time to retire is at the top."
Yahoo
07-08-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Ski world champion Venier quits, saying hunger has gone
Six months after claiming her first major title, Austrian skier Stephanie Venier announced her retirement on Thursday, aged 31. Venier won the woman's Super-G world title in Saalbach in February but said on the Austrian Ski Federation web site that "the unwavering will required for elite sport simply hasn't been there in recent months to the extent I expect it to be". In her 13-year World Cup career, the speed specialist scored three wins and 12 other podium finishes. She shone in World Championships, winning a downhill silver in St Moritz in Switzerland in 2017 and a team-combined bronze as well as the Super-G gold in her native country last season. "I more than fulfilled my greatest dream of winning a medal at the home World Championships in Saalbach with a gold and a bronze," she said. "Even though the Olympic Games are coming up next year, it feels like the right time for me to draw a line under my racing career." "As the saying goes: The peak of your career is the best time to retire," she said. tba/bg/pb/ea
France 24
07-08-2025
- Sport
- France 24
Ski world champion Venier quits, saying hunger has gone
Venier won the woman's Super-G world title in Saalbach in February but said on the Austrian Ski Federation web site that "the unwavering will required for elite sport simply hasn't been there in recent months to the extent I expect it to be". In her 13-year World Cup career, the speed specialist scored three wins and 12 other podium finishes. She shone in World Championships, winning a downhill silver in St Moritz in Switzerland in 2017 and a team-combined bronze as well as the Super-G gold in her native country last season. "I more than fulfilled my greatest dream of winning a medal at the home World Championships in Saalbach with a gold and a bronze," she said. "Even though the Olympic Games are coming up next year, it feels like the right time for me to draw a line under my racing career." "As the saying goes: The peak of your career is the best time to retire," she said.
Yahoo
07-08-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Stephanie Venier retires as world champion in super-G
Austrian Stephanie Venier is retiring from Alpine skiing, six months after winning her first senior world title and six months before the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. Venier, 31, said she considered retirement "for some time" and that recurring knee problems played a role in the decision. "As the saying goes: The peak of your career is the best time to retire," she said, according to an Austrian ski federation press release. "That's why I'm turning my back on ski racing and am very much looking forward to everything that's still to come." This past Feb. 6, Venier won the super-G at the World Championships on home snow in Saalbach, edging Italian Federica Brignone by one tenth of a second. Venier, at the time ranked ninth in the World Cup super-G standings, earned her second world championships medal — eight years after taking downhill silver. She became the oldest woman to win a world super-G title and the oldest Austrian woman to win world championships gold in any individual event. "The thought of ending my career isn't entirely new and has been brewing in my mind for some time," she said, according to Thursday's release. "But I wanted to take enough time for this drastic decision, because once I've made it, there's no turning back. The unwavering will required for elite sport has simply not been there in recent months to the extent I expect it to be. I more than fulfilled my greatest dream of winning a medal at the home World Championships in Saalbach with a gold and a bronze (in the team combined). Even though the Olympic Games are coming up next year, it feels like the right time for me to draw a line under my racing career. I look back on what I've achieved with great satisfaction." The other top women's super-G skiers last season included Swiss Lara Gut-Behrami, who won the World Cup season title in the event. Gut-Behrami has said 2025-26 will be her final season. Brignone ranked second behind Gut-Behrami on the World Cup. The Italian is working her way back after breaking her left leg in a giant slalom crash on April 3. The top American super-G skiers are Lauren Macuga, who shared bronze at worlds and ranked sixth on the World Cup, and Lindsey Vonn, who placed second in the World Cup Finals super-G in March. That marked Vonn's first podium in her comeback from a five-year retirement. Lindsey Vonn adds Aksel Lund Svindal as coach for 2026 Olympic run Lindsey Vonn came back last season after a five-year retirement to bid for one last Olympics. Nick Zaccardi,
CNA
07-08-2025
- Sport
- CNA
Alpine skiing-Austrian Venier bows out as a world champion ahead of Olympics
Super-G world champion Stephanie Venier announced her retirement on Thursday, six months before the Milano-Cortina Olympics, with the Austrian saying she was no longer prepared to risk her health and wanted to go out at the top. The 31-year-old Austrian won the first gold medal of her senior Alpine skiing career on home snow last February at the Saalbach world championships. Venier took part in the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, failing to finish the downhill, and missed the 2022 Beijing Games. "The thought of ending my career isn't new - it's been growing inside me for a while," she said in a statement. "The deep will and determination required for elite sport just hasn't been there in recent months in the way I expect from myself. "Even though the Olympic Games are coming up next year, now feels like exactly the right time to bring my racing career to a close." Venier, who made her World Cup debut in 2013 and was a junior world champion in Super-G that same year, earned three World Cup wins and a total of 12 podiums. "Fortunately, I was spared from major injuries, but I no longer want to push the recurring knee problems and risk my long-term health," she said. "As the saying goes: the best time to retire is at the top."
