Marco Schwarz out for Season, Looks Toward 2020

After a three-medal performance at the 2019 World Championships in Are, Sweden, earlier this month, Austrian rising star Marco Schwarz was poised to clinch his career-first crystal globe after crossing the line in 11th place after the super-G portion of the Bansko alpine combined last weekend. Sliding to a stop in the finish, however, it was clear that something was not right.

Schwarz landed awkwardly off of the final jump in Bansko but completed the final two gates to the finish. The 23-year-old opted to skip the slalom run and it was later revealed that he suffered a torn ACL and meniscus damage in his left knee in the closing seconds of his super-G run.

The Austrian underwent surgery in Tirol over the weekend and has at least a six month recovery ahead of him.

“It’s possible that I’ve done something bad,” he said he thought as he crossed the finish line in Bansko. “It was clear even after landing that something was wrong. I wanted to squat after the jump, but I was in so much pain that I did not succeed. I look positively into the future.”

Schwarz captured the first two World Cup wins of his career this season in the city event in Olso, Norway, on New Years day and the alpine combined in Wengen, Switzerland, last month. Schwarz was also the bronze medalist in slalom and combined and won team-event silver at the 2019 World Championships.