Cortina d’Ampezzo Mathieu Faivre: GEPA pictures
October 15 — French giant slalom star Mathieu Faivre has retired from competitive ski racing, announcing his decision today on social media.
Faivre, a key figure in a successful generation of French skiers that included Alexis Pinturault, Victor Muffat-Jeandet, and Jean-Baptiste Grange, demonstrated his giant slalom mastery across many seasons. Today, he confirmed that his racing career has come to an end.
World Championships Record
At the 2021 World Championships in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Faivre stole the show in the men’s events. He won gold in both the GS and individual parallel.
Those titles marked his first individual World Championship medals, following his team parallel gold in St. Moritz in 2017.
In total, he captured three World Championship gold medals across five championships, spanning from Schladming in 2013 to Courchevel/Méribel in 2023.
World Cup Success
Throughout his World Cup career, Faivre earned 10 podiums and two victories. He also took Olympic GS bronze in 2022, finishing behind Zan Kranjec and overall leader Marco Odermatt.
His World Cup wins carried special meaning. At age 25, he earned his first World Cup victory on home snow at Val d’Isère’s famous Face de Bellevarde in 2016. His second win—and penultimate podium—came in Bansko, Bulgaria, in 2021. On both occasions, his teammate Pinturault finished third.
Faivre also finished second in the 2016–17 overall GS standings, just one point ahead of Pinturault and behind the great Marcel Hirscher.
What He Said
In his video message, Faivre reflected on the decision to retire, saying,
“The decision wasn’t easy to take, for it was a whole life dedicated to skiing and to fulfilling my childhood dreams.
The journey has been filled with memories and encounters, with hard work and self-sacrifice, with suspended moments and deep doubts, with successes that made all the failures worthwhile.”
Why Now
In recent seasons, Faivre found it increasingly difficult to finish inside the top 30. With a younger generation of French skiers emerging, earning a World Cup start position was no longer guaranteed. At 33, securing one of four French Olympic spots for Bormio in 2026 would have been a major challenge.
Olympic Record
Across three Olympic Games, Faivre always finished inside the top 30. He placed 24th in Sochi (2014), seventh in Pyeongchang (2018), and captured a podium finish in Beijing (2022).
Merci, Mathieu.
Information for this story was sourced from Ski-db.com and Mathieu Faivre’s official Instagram account.
About the Author: Matt Garcka
