Anna Veith declares her resignation

On Saturday, May 23, 2020 Anna Veith, née Fenninger, declares her retirement from alpine ski racing. After about 10 years of alpine skiing world cup, 3 Olympic medals, 6 world champion medals and 7 junior world championship medals is the end. Especially in the last 4 years she sometimes fought almost hopelessly against persistent knee injuries, but she gave everything until the end and achieved what she wanted. Now a new phase of her life begins.

Since 2005, the native of Salzburg was on the slopes to compete with other female ski racers. And already as a junior racer she proved her incredible talent and skiing quality. At the 2006 Junior World Championships in Quebec, Canada, and in 2008 in Formigal, Spain, she won three medals each, two gold and one silver. Her best years in the World Cup were 2013-2015, when she won the overall World Cup both times and dominated in the downhill, super G and giant slalom disciplines. Her strength was always in giant slalom and super G. During training for the World Cup opener in Sölden, she suffered a torn cruciate ligament, torn medial ligament and torn patellar tendon. The 2015/16 season was thus over. Since then, the Austrian has repeatedly struggled to catch up with the top. Satisfaction for her bitter struggle was to come in the 2017/18 season, when she celebrated a successful comeback and won the silver medal in the Super G at the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, after taking gold in the Super G and silver in the Giant Slalom 4 years earlier in Sochi, Russia. But last season, you could see the signs of years of struggle on her face and the effort to fight for the top of the world again. Her early retirement before next season is only a logical step.

Anna Veith writes about her resignation on her homepage:

Finally it's out. Today I officially ended my career.
I am happy and know that I am doing exactly the right thing - but of course there is also melancholy. On the one hand, relief at the freedom I've gained and, on the other, awareness of what's to come and, in the process, closing the chapter of my life for which I've put everything on the back burner so far.

For years I lived a life in which sport was above everything for me. I lived my childhood dream. I appreciate that very much, but now I feel it and it feels right. It's the right time to stop.

The enchanting Austrian is thus leaving the international ski circus to devote herself to a new life, which in future will revolve more around her family, her husband and the jointly run Hotel Arx.