Cover: Marcel Hircher on Instagram
With wins no. 66 and 67 in Adelboden, Switzerland this weekend, Austrian speedster Marcel Hirscher is quietly building his case for the most dominant skier on the FIS Alpine circuit this season– maybe in the history of the sport.
Related: Underdog Takes ‘Bad Boy Line,’ Crashes Into 1st Place @Adelboden
I say quietly because– at least in the United States, the focus remains on Colorado-based phenom Mikaela Shiffrin. The national press has called her “the world’s most dominant athlete” and columnists for her hometown paper wonder if her non-wins are bigger stories than her wins.
Elsewhere, though, in the industry and foreign press, it’s Marcel Hirscher who’s being called “a living legend” and “champion of champions.” He shares the latter title with Rafael Nadal and Leo Messi, among other gods of their respective sports.
Marcel Hirscher
- Age: 29
- Birthplace: Salzburg, Austria
- FIS Wins: 7 Overall, 67 Events
- Olympic Medals: 3 (2 Gold)
- Favorite Food: Unknown
Hirscher’s dominance, however, is far from newfound. He’s won seven consecutive overall FIS titles since making his debut at the age of 18. At 29, he still trails the career total of the returning 34-year-old Lindsey Vonn by a healthy 15 wins. But there’s no reason to think he’s not capable of surpassing Ingemar Stenmark’s still-standing overall win record of 86 if he’s able to remain healthy himself.
Hirscher’s 8th and 9th wins at Adelboden make him the most dominant skier at any single venue.
He described the weekend to CNN:
It underlines for me personally, this seven years where I’ve been performing at this level, I think this is worth the most.“
His seven overall FIS wins are also unmatched.
Returning to this season and who’s been more dominant between Hirscher and Shiffrin, both skiers have nine event wins and are well within striking distance of the single-season win record of 14.
It’s Shiffrin who owns the wider lead in the standings, as she sits 446 points clear of second to Hirscher’s 405. But Shiffrin’s coach has told the AP that she’ll sit out two events in Italy this weekend as she battles fatigue from participating in seven races in 19 days.
What do you think, readers? Who’ll end up with more wins this season? Take this handy poll to have your say:
I definitely think that both @MarcelHirscher and @MikaelaShiffrin will break the season win record held by the Vreni Schneider (14). The only question is, which one will have the most wins? What do u think?
— lindsey vonn (@lindseyvonn) January 15, 2019
