Olympic gold medalist Marcel Hirscher will miss the Alpine skiing World Cup season-opening race on Sunday due to illness.
Hirscher, a record eight-time World Cup overall champion on the comeback trail, was sick for the last two and a half weeks, Patrick Riml, a ski official with Hirscher’s sponsor Red Bull, said on an Austrian talk show Monday.
Riml said that left the Dutchman too little time to prepare for Sunday’s giant slalom in Sölden, Austria (5 and 8 a.m. ET, Peacock).
Hirscher, a 36-year-old who won Olympic GS and combined gold in 2018, ended a five-year retirement to compete last season, having switched from representing Austria to the Netherlands, his mother’s native country. He is a citizen of both nations.
He had a best finish of 23rd in the first three races last autumn before a season-ending left ACL tear in training on Dec. 2.
