Marc Gisin Retires Two Years After Mega Crash

Swiss Alpine skier Marc Gisin has announced his retirement  nearly two years after a life-threatening crash in what turned out to be his last World Cup race.

Swiss Ski said in a statement “Unfortunately, his body never completely recovered from the serious accidents, For this reason, Marc Gisin is retiring.”

He said: It’s time for me to leave the world of skiracing. Since the crash in December of 2018 I put absolutely everything in my rehabilitation to come back from this injury once again and tried to give my body and especially my brain the time it needed to recover. But my body won’t take it anymore. My still not completely healed up proprioception will not allow me to ski the way I want to and the way it would be demanded on the highest level of ski racing.

I wanna say thank you to my family for the endless support over the years. I wanna say thank you to all the Doctors, Physios and other healers of all sorts for keeping me healthy and helping me coming back numerous times...especially...thank you Lydia, thank you Dr. Leiser, thank you Luky, thank you Steven, thank you Felix, thank you Nadine and thank you René!!! Also a big thank you to my physical coaches...especially Peter, Felix and Reini. I wanna thank Bruno, Ernest, Willi, Shawn, Babi and Matjaz for putting a whole lot of work and dedication in preparing my skis over the years!!! I wanna say thank you to all my sponsors especially @helvetia who was my main-sponsor since the first world cup season in 2010...thank you Cyril. I wanna thank Swiss-Ski and all my coaches for all the support since I entered the „C-Kader“ in 2004. And last but not least a big thank you to my friends and to each and everyone of you out there who cheered or rooted for me next to the race hill or in front of the tv over the last 10 years

Gisin, 32, suffered a second traumatic brain injury in a dramatic December 2018 fall t in  Val Gardena, Italy, where he lost his teeth, broke multiple bones and suffered a collapsed lung. Gisin had previously suffered a concussion with brain bleeding in 2015 in a crash in Kitzbuehel, Subsequently Gisin has taken part in downhill training runs at four different venues but has never participated in a race again.

He placed 21st in the 2018 Olympic downhill and had a best World Cup finish of fifth. His sisters Dominique and Michelle, won Olympic titles in the downhill in 2014 and the combined in 2018, respectively.