Marcel Hirscher is back—again. The most dominant male skier in Alpine World Cup history has confirmed he will return to competition for the 2025–26 season, fully cleared by doctors and supported by a rare wildcard pathway created by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS).
Just six months ago, the Dutch-Austrian icon’s comeback appeared over before it began, when a training crash on Austria’s Reiteralm in December 2024 ended his first season back from retirement after a torn ACL in his left knee. Now 36, Hirscher says he’s completed a grueling rehabilitation program and is ready to make one more charge at the World Cup circuit—and possibly, the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina.
“Now call it a comeback,” Hirscher said with wry humor this week, quoting LL Cool J’s now-familiar line for the second time in as many seasons. “Training hard again is bringing me a lot of joy. It’s shaping up to be a very athletic summer.”
Hirscher’s return—both last season and now again—has been enabled by a controversial but game-changing new rule from FIS. In July 2024, FIS introduced a wildcard entry system allowing retired skiers with exceptional past achievements to bypass traditional qualification requirements.
To qualify, an athlete must have won an overall World Cup title, Olympic gold, or World Championship gold—or at least five World Cup races and a discipline title. They must also have been retired for at least two years, but no more than ten. The rule, inspired by wildcard systems in sports like tennis, was created to allow iconic athletes to return directly to top-level racing without accumulating FIS points through lower-tier competitions.
Hirscher, whose 67 World Cup victories and eight overall titles between 2012 and 2019 rank among the most dominant in ski racing history, was the clear test case. He had 17 wildcard entries approved for the 2024–25 season. When his season ended just weeks into training due to injury, FIS opted to preserve those unused wildcards for 2025–26.
Hirscher’s first comeback attempt had been framed as a one-season project, with special focus on the 2025 World Championships in Saalbach—his home region in Austria. That dream ended abruptly on December 2, 2024, during Giant Slalom training, when he slipped and suffered an ACL tear. “Cruciate ligament gone, project over,” he posted on Instagram, along with video of the fall. It was the first major knee injury of his World Cup career, and at the time, Hirscher sounded unsure whether he would try again: “Maybe I’m finally done with my journey.”
The wildcard rule also enabled Lindsey Vonn to stage her comeback during the 2024-25 season, who wrote “Now I have no comeback buddy,” on Hirscher’s Instagram after his crash. “Please heal fast!!!” she added, and heal he did. Six months—and over 1,000 hours of rehab—later, Hirscher’s answer has changed. “Even in difficult moments, my answer never changed: I want to race again,” he now says.
This season, Hirscher will again compete for the Netherlands, his mother’s homeland, after switching allegiances from Austria during his comeback last year. He also returns as founder and ambassador of Van Deer–Red Bull Sports, a ski equipment company he launched after retiring in 2019. “We’re heading into our first Olympic winter at Van Deer,” he said, “and we’re all working toward a shared goal: making our skis and boots better for racing. That’s why it’s clear to me where I can contribute most—right at the heart of the racing scene, as part of the athlete team.”
No official race dates have been confirmed yet, but Hirscher plans to resume snow training in September, pending final medical sign-off.
For now, he’s relishing the return to full-strength training—and a second chance to finish what he started. “Balancing family, business, holidays, and friends is a challenge,” he said, “but everything is well coordinated. I’m incredibly grateful for the support I’m receiving—both personally and professionally—for my ‘Back to Racing’ mission.”
Whether Marcel Hirscher reclaims his dominance or simply proves that greatness still belongs on the start line, his second comeback has already secured its place as one of this winter’s defining stories.
