The Red Bulletin June 2020 (US)

97
Marcel
Hirscher
Alpine skier, 31, AUT.
Hirscher retired in 2019 with eight World Cup titles, two
Olympic gold medals and seven world championships.
“Now I’m all about less,
not more”
After the whirlwind success of his ski career,
Marcel Hirscher reflects on adjusting to civilian
life and finding new ways to recalibrate.
Words DANIEL WINKLER
Photography FELIX KRÜGER
the oddballs. I was. They’ve found a
pace they can work at, which they’re
going to have to keep up their whole
lives. As an athlete, I only had to
live with the tempo I’d set myself for
10 years. You can’t run your whole
working life at a sprint. No one
can survive that. It was a learning
process to see that it wasn’t a very
good idea to try to transpose elite
sport 1:1 into daily life. Unless you
want to make a huge effort to be the
best at something.
Are you now recalibrating your
day-to-day routine?
I’m right in the middle of that
process now. Maybe only at the
very beginning of it, actually. It’s
probably going to take a lot of time
for what I’ve trained my whole life
to do to change. Which is a type
of training in itself, only now I’m
giving myself a bit more time for it.
It’s midday. I’ve been working in the
garden since 7:30 in the morning
and I notice that it’s a glorious day.
I think to myself, you don’t have to
get it all done today. In the past I
always lived by the motto not to put
off till tomorrow what you could
do today. Let’s do another two runs
because who knows what might
happen tomorrow! Let’s test the
boots out today because who knows
what might happen tomorrow! That
was right for sport but isn’t much
good for everyday life. I still have to
learn that.
the red bulletin: As a
sportsman, you were always
asked this, but at times like these
it seems more appropriate than
ever: How are you doing?
marcel hirscher: I’m good.
Everyone’s healthy. So very good.
Structure and making to-do lists
are very important right now.
Does that apply in your case, too?
Not anymore, really. I was a
walking to-do list while I was a pro
athlete. It all had to be systematic.
I proceeded step by step in my
quest to reach the desired goal.
I’m extremely happy that that’s
no longer what it’s all about. It
worked for 10 years. No question.
But it doesn’t have to be that way
anymore, because now I’m all about
less, not more.
Is it working?
It was terrible to start with. It really
was very, very hard, especially
because as an athlete you think
you’ve got to make the most of
every single day. But in my daily
routine now there’s no justification
for that approach. And over time it
can get pretty tough.
Tough for whom?
First and foremost for the people I
come into contact with on a daily
basis. Service providers, tradesmen,
workers, people just doing their
jobs. I soon noticed in my dealings
with them that they weren’t actually
There were learning curves
when you were an athlete, too,
like when you broke your ankle
in August 2017.
At first the injury came as a relief.
The downtime was so bitter, so
painful, so devastating, just as much
as it was about recovery. And there
were plenty of tough moments
during those weeks of rehabilitation.
But ultimately it was a gift. It meant
I could ski at that level for another
two years. Otherwise I would have
had to retire earlier.
That doesn’t sound like
downtime—more like a reboot.
It was six weeks where I could
finally slow down physically. I don’t
mean I did nothing, but the level
of intensity was different and I
couldn’t take the strain anymore.
92 THE RED BULLETIN