NOS Sport•
It seemed like such a beautiful story. Former Austrian top skier Marcel Hirscher for the Netherlands at the Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina. It’s not going to happen, because the 36-year-old Hirscher is currently not fit enough to perform at the top level.
However, the Dutch Ski Association (NSkiV) does not want to regard it as a failed project. “We have learned a lot from each other,” says technical director Wopke de Vegt.
And that could also be possible in the future, because Hirscher’s manager Michael Holzer says that the skier’s career is not over yet: “Training for the coming season starts next week. He is not giving up, he is closing the remaining gap with the world top.”
‘disappointment’
The announcement was big in the summer of 2024. The two-time Olympic and five-time world champion for Austria would now ski under the Dutch flag. Hirscher wanted to show his mother’s country that there was still something left to do. In addition, there was the opportunity for the top skier to put his own ski brand in the spotlight with his own team.
A cruciate ligament injury he suffered at the end of 2024 threw a spanner in the works. The Games are now out of the picture. “A disappointment for all Dutch supporters who would have liked to see him shine,” says former alpine skier Maarten Meiners. Meiners, who is also a co-commentator during the Games for the NOS, saw it coming a bit.
“His comeback has been postponed more and more. This was to be expected. He has recently been training with world-class players in Austria and then he probably discovered that he was not good enough, at least not by his standards.”
Meiners about Hirscher dropping out for the Games: ‘Was somewhat expected’
Just like Meiners, De Vegt is also disappointed. “Not so much because he decides that he is not good enough now, but that we do not have such greatness at the Games. You need heroes. But you are also dealing with a person, you cannot use a new engine and say: we are going again.”
But the disappointment is not only for the ski association, De Vegt knows. “Also for his team, his family and the entire Dutch ski landscape. But it was a well-considered choice. He did not participate for the sake of participating, he wanted to participate for the podium.”
Project geflopt?
Whether the Hirscher project has failed? De Vegt does not want to go that far. “We have communicated a lot with each other since the World Cup in Sölden (October 2024) and looked at how we can help each other. During his injury, we also talked a lot with each other about how we could get Marcel to the Games, despite his injury. But I cannot say now that the project has failed. It is more of a disappointment for all parties, we have learned a lot from each other.”
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For example, the NSkiV discovered that the association already does quite a lot of the same thing. De Vegt: “If you look at the structure we have with a psychologist, nutrition experts, and support from universities, we are doing at least as well as Hirscher’s team. But we have also come into contact with a team where almost anything is possible, with an open budget. That is a big difference.”
Meiners also does not want to call it a flop. “Hirscher is busy developing skis and that was partly the goal of this project.” The Dutch skiers would thus make use of Hirscher’s knowledge. “But in the end an injury threw a spanner in the works and that is part of the sport.”
Restart?
In the sporting field, Hirscher was not often able to show his qualities under the Dutch flag due to injuries. But De Vegt is sure that the ski legend can still do it. “In Sölden he set the third fastest time during the second run. There he showed the world that he still belongs to the top.”
The question now is whether the Austrian with a Dutch mother will return to the slopes in a suit with red, white and blue. “I cannot predict it, but I do hope that he makes a fresh start. That would be good for everyone, if he is fit,” says De Vegt.
