Retirement after injuries Lara Gut-Behrami faces the same fate as these ski stars
Instead of competing for victories once again, Lara Gut-Behrami is facing the premature end of her great career after her training crash. A fate she would share with other ski stars. A selection.
2020
Anna Veith
Anna Veith (née Fenninger) was one of Lara Gut-Behrami's best colleagues in the Ski World Cup and one of her biggest rivals. The Austrian won Olympic gold, became multiple world champion and won the overall World Cup three times. In 2015, she suffered her first serious knee injury, followed by another cruciate ligament rupture in 2019. Although she wanted to return to the slopes, she was unable to do so. Veith ended her successful career in May 2020 because her body no longer wanted to play along.
2001
Silvano Beltrametti
On December 8, 2001, the up-and-coming speed skier Silvano Beltrametti had a serious crash on the downhill run in Val d'Isère. At a speed of 120 km/h, the man from Graubünden loses control after a small moment of inattention, thunders through two safety nets and crashes into a post. His spine is seriously injured - and around two hours after the accident, the sad certainty prevails: Beltrametti is paraplegic and will be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. The accident is the trigger for stricter safety measures. For example, blue lines are introduced to show skiers the direction to the next gate. However, this comes too late for Beltrametti and his career. Beltrametti then becomes a hotelier in Lenzerheide, GR.
2013
Daniel Albrecht
In training for the Hahnenkamm downhill in Kitzbühel in January 2009, Daniel Albrecht's finish jump is his undoing. Albrecht races towards the jump at around 138 km/h, falls behind in the air and brutally crashes onto the slope 70 meters later. The man from Valais remains motionless - and fights for his life in the weeks that follow. Albrecht lies in the intensive care unit in Innsbruck in an induced coma for over three weeks with severe craniocerebral trauma and lung injuries. When he wakes up, Albrecht does not know who he is - and even has to learn to speak again. Albrecht returns to the World Cup more than 22 months after the crash. However, he was unable to achieve any tangible results. In October 2013, Albrecht finally announced his retirement at the age of 30.
2018
Julia Mancuso
The American stepped on the gas both on and off the slopes. Mancuso was considered a bon vivant on the ski circuit and was always up for a bit of fun. Unfortunately, the four-time Olympic medal winner had to battle with injuries time and again. Chronic hip problems, several operations, years of skiing with pain. In 2018, she therefore had to say goodbye, Mancuso said she had lost the battle against her hip problems. She competed in her 399th and final World Cup race in a Wonder Woman costume.
2019
Aksel Lund Svindal
He is one of the most successful skiers of recent years. Two Olympic gold medals, five world championship titles, two-time overall World Cup winner. But Svindal has had almost as many injuries as victories in his career. In 2007, he suffered a fractured cheekbone, a double fractured nasal bone and a deep cut to his buttocks in a fall in Beaver Creek. An artificial anus had to be inserted temporarily. In fall 2014, Svindal suffered a torn Achilles tendon while playing football. This was followed by a cruciate ligament rupture in January 2016. He ended his career in 2019 due to persistent knee problems. For four years, the Norwegian and US girl Julia Mancuso were the most prominent couple on the ski circuit. Then they broke up in 2013.
2023
Mauro Caviezel
Mauro Caviezel's great tale of woe begins in January 2021. During training for the downhill in Garmisch, Caviezel had a serious fall and suffered a traumatic brain injury as well as other injuries. The 2021/22 season is then completely ruined. Caviezel returns at the end of November 2022. However, his comeback does not last long. In his second race, the super-G in Lake Louise, Caviezel crashes again and suffers another traumatic brain injury. On January 10, 2023, he announces his retirement and explains: "Unfortunately, I'm not well enough to return to ski racing."
2020
Marc Gisin
Marc Gisin was repeatedly set back by injuries during his eleven-year career. In 2012, he tore his cruciate ligament. In 2015, he suffers a traumatic brain injury with a brain haemorrhage. He was hit even harder in the 2018 downhill race in Val Gardena/Gröden, where he suffered another traumatic brain injury in a fall, as well as several fractures and a pulmonary contusion that almost cost him his life. Nevertheless, the man from Engelberg fights his way back into the World Cup time after time. His body never fully recovers from the injuries, however, and he retires in 2020.
2025?
Andrea Ellenberger
Last December, Andrea Ellenberger breaks her right leg in training and tears the cruciate ligament in her left knee. This summer she announces: "I won't be racing in the 2025/26 season. The leg is healing and the nerves also seem to be slowly making progress. Nevertheless, it needs a lot of patience and acceptance." Whether she will ever return to the World Cup slopes is questionable at the moment. The 32-year-old, who got married in the summer, has started a new job and wants to train as a sports psychologist. Before the training accident, she had raced 53 World Cup races. She has not yet retired.
