More World Cup, Europa Cup retirements as summer approaches

By Published On: June 11th, 2016Comments Off on More World Cup, Europa Cup retirements as summer approaches

As spring turns to summer, five additional top athletes from around the globe have announced their intentions to exit the competitive realm and move on to the next phases of their lives.

Austrians Florian Scheiber and Wolfgang Hoerl, Slovenian Matic Skube, Frenchman Jonas Fabre, and Swiss Simon Steimle have all decided to call it quits and retire from competitive ski racing.

The 29-year-old Scheiber exits the sport after injury struggles in recent years, including a season-ending crash suffered at Kitzbuehel in January. The 2008-09 overall Europa Cup champion ends his time as a professional athlete with a World Cup career-best fourth place in the 2012 Beaver Creek Downhill. “The numerous injuries in recent years was certainly the main reason,” Scheiber told the Austrian federation. “Still, I will miss my time as a ski racer.”

Hoerl, 32, bows out after a long career of multiple top-3o World Cup slalom finishes, including a career-best eighth place in the 2012 Kitzbuehel slalom.

Skube, the 2007 World Junior slalom champion, ends his career with 79 World Cup starts, notching a career-best 12th place in the 2011 Adelboden slalom. He was also a competitor for Slovenia in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. “I decided to quit my ski racing career and I want to thank you for all your support,” Skube said via Instagram. “Cooperating with you was always a pleasure and I am saying goodbye with all the gratitude and unforgettable times in my mind.”

Fabre, just 22, will move on from ski racing with a 2013 World University Games giant slalom title, as well as five career World Cup GS starts. Fabre hopes to enroll at the The Paris Institute of Political Studies and intends to enter the field of political science once his education is complete.

After failing to qualify for the 2016-17 Swiss Ski Team, the 25-year-old Steimle made the hard decision to step away after several years of attempting to break through on the Europa Cup circuit. Unfortunately, patellar tendon issues in both knees prevented the young Swiss racer from achieving his ultimate goals. Steimle now aims to train to become a professional golf instructor.

SkiRacing.com wishes all of these athletes the best in their future endeavors, whether on snow or off.

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About the Author: Sean Higgins

A Lake Tahoe native and University of Vermont graduate, Higgins was a member of the Catamounts' 2012 NCAA title winning squad and earned first team All-American honors in 2013. Prior to coming to Ski Racing Media, he coached U14s for the Squaw Valley Ski Team.