Yahoo Sports Olympic skiing champion Anna Veith announces retirement
Austrian Olympic ski champion Anna Veith officially retired from the sport on Saturday, she announced in a live television broadcast and on social media, according to the Associated Press.
Veith, who won 15 World Cup races in her career and eight medals, including one Olympic gold medal, was very content with the move, too.
“It was not a difficult decision,” she said, via the Associated Press. “For me it feels 100 percent right.”
Veith won gold in the Super G at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, and won silver in the Giant Slalom at those games. She won her third and final medal at the most recent Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang in 2018, when she finished runner up in the Super G.
That last finish, she said, was extremely emotional after rallying back from a brutal ACL injury in her right knee 2015. She was sidelined the following season, too, with problems in her other knee.
“It was the most emotional day of my career,” Veith said, via the Associated Press. “It was important during my recovery from injury that I could dream of something. That gave me motivation for training. In Korea I felt I achieved that dream.”
Veith, who will turn 31 next month, tore her right ACL again in January 2019. She came back and made 11 starts, but finished inside the top-10 just twice.
By that point — with three World Championship wins and 15 World Cup victories to her name — Veith was done. The “motivation” to continue, she said, was lacking after her final Olympic appearance.
“I’m ready for the next chapter,” Veith wrote on Instagram, in part. “My heart and head are telling me it’s time to do something new … Skiing is my whole life. It has made me who I am today and will always be something I’m passionate about. I’m so grateful for the opportunities I’ve had, to learn and achieve in the past 15 years. I’ve been able to fulfill my childhood dreams and more.”
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