Saalbach (Austria) (AFP) – Austrian skiing legend Marcel Hirscher on Friday dubbed as “very unfair” the criticism levelled at Lindsey Vonn for coming out of retirement at the age of 40, calling the American a “role model.” Vonn had name-dropped Hirscher when asked about critics of her comeback before the action got under way at the World Ski championships in Saalbach, where she finished a creditable 15th in the women’s downhill.
“No one asked Marcel (Hirscher) if his life was fulfilled outside of ski racing, or if he needed to see a psychologist,” she said. “They were only directed at me.” Hirscher claimed rock-star status in Austria after notching up 67 World Cup wins, two Olympic golds, seven world titles, and a record eight consecutive overall World Cup crystal globes (2012-19). After five years out, he made his comeback at the age of 35 in this season’s opener in Soelden, racing for the Netherlands, the country of his mother.
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A knee injury cut short Hirscher’s season, but the Austrian was keen to throw his full weight behind Vonn on Friday. “From my point of view, it is very unfair,” he said of critics who had openly questioned Vonn’s sanity and life. “I can’t understand those messages because for me it is just inspiring.” Vonn, whose right knee was partially replaced last April by a titanium prosthesis enabling her to make a comeback after six years away from the sport, said she didn’t deserve “the disrespectful comments to the degree that they were given.”
“I of course expected criticism in that, ‘Is my knee safe?’ That’s a valid question,” she acknowledged. “But there were a lot of questions that had to do with me as a person and my psychological state and what life is outside of skiing. And that was completely inappropriate and disrespectful and I didn’t deserve it.” Hirscher argued that Vonn, who has 82 World Cup wins to her name, had “showed us that if you have a big dream, mostly it doesn’t matter how huge the steps are, that have to be taken.”
“Lindsey showed us, you can achieve this,” he added. “I was close to crying when I saw her skiing in Sankt Anton am Arlberg” when she finished sixth in the downhill and fourth in the super-G. “It was crazy, I mean, no one was expecting this,” he said. “So she is a big role model for all human beings (and shows) that big dreams, big wishes, if you work for them, everything, mostly everything, is possible.”
Vonn also received backing from the head of the International Ski Federation (FIS), Johan Eliasch, who is in the running for the presidency of the International Olympic Committee. “I think it’s great for the sport,” said Eliasch, warming to the prospect of seeing 2010 Olympic downhill gold medallist Vonn at next year’s Winter Games in Milan/Cortina d’Ampezzo. “It’s great for the Olympics and great for Lindsey, so great for everybody.”
Turning to his own rehabilitation from a torn cruciate ligament in his left knee, Hirscher said everything was going as planned. “Well, the doctors are super happy and that makes me happy as well, for sure,” he said. “It is hard, but so many other athletes have dealt with this already…life is good.” Shouting to be heard over the raucous background noise of the 15,000-strong crowd packed around the finish area in Saalbach, Hirscher said not taking part in the worlds on home snow was tough to digest.
“It is not fun to sit on the couch in front of the television, but I’m super happy,” he said. “Austria showed once again how much important ski racing is in this nation. And it is the best marketing we can make anyways for alpine ski racing.” As for his own return, Hirscher was more cagey. “I’m going to make a decision around the World Cup finals,” he said, with those finals scheduled for March 20-27 in Sun Valley, Idaho.
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