Maria Höfl-Riesch speaks about the end of her career and admits that the farewell could have gone better according to her ideas.
With three gold medals at Olympic Games and two World Champion titles, Maria Höfl-Riesch is one of the most successful German winter athletes of all time – but she struggles with the way her great career ends, as she reveals in the new podcast SPORT1 Deep Dive .
“In the moment when I was in the net, I finished with the season, with the overall World Cup and a little bit also with my career. I would have wished for a nicer departure,” she looks back.
Maria Höfl-Riesch at her farewell press conference on March 20, 2014
Case initiates career end
The 40-year-old announced the end of her career as an active ski racer in March 2014, just a few weeks after the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. Höfl-Riesch crashed into the safety net on March 12 at the final downhill race of the season in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, after which she had to prematurely end the season due to injury and later publicly announced her retirement.
After 2011, the 40-year-old wanted to win the overall World Cup again in 2014 and engaged in a close race with Anna Veith (née Fenninger; editor ) for the big crystal globe. After the Olympic Games in Sochi, however, Höfl-Riesch noticed that she had lost her tension.
“I no longer had that staying power. Anna Fenninger then had a super run, she was so strong at the end and I wasn’t anymore,” said the Garmisch-Partenkirchen native. “I wanted to win the overall World Cup again because I thought it would be the perfect conclusion if I stopped skiing.”
In Lenzerheide, the decision was made – to the disadvantage of the German: “I was leading in the Downhill World Cup and knew: If she wins, I have to be at least fifth. I was very excited about that. Then I unfortunately crashed into the net. Then I knew that was it. Although I wasn’t seriously injured, bruised my elbow and strained my adductors. I knew I couldn’t race anymore.”
Höfl-Riesch was transported by helicopter
After the fall, Höfl-Riesch had to be transported by helicopter to a nearby hospital. Despite her bitter elimination, the three-time Olympic champion won the World Cup standings in the downhill. On the way to the hospital, the helicopter flew over the finish line, where the award ceremony for the downhill standings was taking place at that time.
“Then Anna Fenninger and Tina Maze were standing on the podium to the right and left, and the top was empty. If I haven’t won a gold medal at the Olympics and World Championships in the downhill, then at least once again the small glass globe.”
On March 20, 2014, Höfl-Riesch officially announced the end of her career.
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