3-time Olympic ski champion Matthias Mayer suddenly retires at World Cup event
Switzerland's Marco Odermatt wins super-G in Italy, Canada's Jack Crawford 6th
Austrian skier Matthias Mayer, who won gold at three consecutive Olympics, announced his retirement with immediate effect Thursday.
Mayer surprisingly made the announcement shortly before a men's World Cup super-G in an interview with Austrian TV after he returned from the course inspection and said he would not compete in the race.
"Last season was fantastic with the third Olympic gold medal and I have started well in the new season and I'm satisfied. But it's enough," said the 32-year-old Mayer, who had been set to start with bib No. 6. "I've done my last course inspection today and that's it. I don't have that fire anymore. The sport is very important for the people and it should go on, but for me it's OK."
Mayer won the Olympic downhill title in 2014 and super-G gold in 2018 and again in 2022, when he additionally earned bronze in downhill and overtook Austrian great Toni Sailer as the country's most successful skier at the Olympics.
Since his debut in 2009, Mayer competed in 219 World Cup races and won 11 times, including classic races in Kitzbuhel, Wengen and Bormio.
In December 2015, Mayer broke two vertebrae in a super-G crash in Val Gardena while wearing a protective air bag under his race suit. He was out for seven months.
It was the first time an air bag inflated during a World Cup race, prompting a debate among skiers over whether Mayer's safety system caused the serious injury or prevented him from getting hurt even worse.
Mayer is the second reigning Olympic champion to leave ski racing this month after Beat Feuz, the 2022 downhill gold medalist from Switzerland, announced his retirement last week.
WATCH | Full highlights of Bormio race:
Odermatt wins super-G, Canada's Crawford 6th
Meanwhile, Swiss skier Marco Odermatt maintained his dazzling form in the last World Cup race of 2022 by dominating a super-G on one of the tour's toughest courses.
Racing in sunny conditions under a blue sky, Odermatt didn't have the fastest start but outclassed his competitors on all other sections of the icy and demanding Stelvio. Even a moment of insecurity, when he had to regain balance after hitting a gate with his right arm, didn't put him off.
"It was really a nearly perfect run for me. Very difficult race, very difficult course setting," Odermatt said. "I had a good feeling from the first gate, so I could push and I was somehow always one step ahead."
Odermatt looked impressed after crossing the finish line and seeing his lead at that time: 2.26 seconds.
Vincent Kriechmayr came closest as he finished 0.64 behind Odermatt in second, a day after the world super-G champion from Austria had won the classic downhill at the same venue.
Odermatt's Swiss teammate Loic Meillard was 1.22 back in third for his 11th career World Cup podium but first in super-G.
Canada's Jack Crawford, who won silver in the downhill on Wednesday, placed sixth at 1:30.78.
WATCH | Crawford 6th-fastest in Stelvio super-G:
Fellow Canadian Riley Seger of North Vancouver, B.C., leapt from bib no. 51 up to 15th overall for a career-best finish.
"The track was pretty icy and bumpy," said Seger. "I didn't do any of the training runs so I wasn't really sure that to expect. I got some great information from my teammates that you just had to push it. I'm excited and happy to take this into the new year."
Aleksander Aamodt Kilde trailed Odermatt by 2.15 seconds in eighth as the Norwegian, who is second in the overall standings, saw his deficit to his Swiss rival increase to 329 points.
Kilde had won five of the last eight super-G races and never finished worse than fourth.
After 14 of this season's 38 events, Odermatt has racked up 946 points, turning him into a serious contender to break the men's record for most World Cup points in a single season.
Odermatt's win came hours after Mayer's surprise announcement.
"We've been good friends, we just drank a beer two days ago. We had fun, talked together," Odermatt said. "It was a big surprise for everybody and, for sure, also for me. For him, it's the right way."
The race, which was interrupted for 10 minutes when a dog was running up and down the course, was the second super-G of the season. The men's World Cup continues with a slalom in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, next Wednesday.
With files from CBC Sports
