VIENNA (AP) β Former world champion Kathrin Zettel has become the third prominent member of the Austrian women’s ski team to retire in the offseason, a year after she won bronze in the Olympic slalom in Sochi.
Suffering from persistent hip and knee injuries, Zettel announced her decision just weeks after former overall World Cup champion Nicole Hosp and 2010 Olympic super-G gold medalist Andrea Fischbacher ended their careers.
The 28-year-old Zettel says “the last couple of years have been tough and difficult, I always felt pain. I just can’t go on.”
Specializing in slalom and GS, Zettel won nine World Cup races and earned four medals at major championships, including gold in super-combined at the 2009 worlds in Val d’Isere, France.
