Lahdenperae retires after 12 years with Swedish team

After 12 seasons with the Swedish Alpine National Team, Anton Lahdenperae has chosen to retire from alpine ski racing. Lahdenperae has competed on the slalom World Cup since 2005, and has had 98 World Cup starts.

Photo by GEPA pictures/ Franz Pammer

His career best result was a ninth place in the 2006 World Cup slalom at Beaver Creek, Colo. His top World Cup result in 2016-17 was a 14th place in Levi, Finland.

“I did not have the best season, and I feel I do not have the motivation needed to fight my way back to where I want to be,” Lahdenperae said. “There have been several things that have not clicked during the season and when one thing goes wrong, it is easy that there will be more things that will not be good. One thing leads to another, and therefore I choose to quit.”

The weight of the decision has been growing on him, and it was not an easy decision to make.

“Deep down, I probably felt that it was time, but I’ve probably lived a bit in denial period. It’s been such a big part of my life and to take the decision to finish is tough. But now when I made up my mind, it feels very good, although I will miss all the friends on the tour and the community it means to travel around and stay close together in the team.”

The Swedish skier has no definite plans for the future aside from moving back to Gaellivare, Sweden after living in Innsbruck, Austria. While the decision was not the easiest, Lahdenperae looks forward to seeing what the future holds including enjoying the offseason in new ways.

“There are certain seasons that open up now,” he shared. “Autumn has been pretty locked before to pre-season training and all that entails, but now I can do whatever I want then instead. I do not really know what to do with it, but just being able to go on a skiing holiday and travel for pleasure will be fun. That I look forward to.”