Claudia Pechstein ends her career. © ANSA / ROMAN PILIPEY

At 53 years old: Speed ​​skating icon retires

Claudia Pechstein is ending her brilliant speed skating career at the age of 53. Eleven days after the conciliatory conclusion of her multi-million dollar dispute with the International Skating Federation (ISU), the Berliner announced her retirement from competitive sport in her home town.

March 10, 2025

From: dpa

"It's enough now. I've always said that when it's all over, I'll stop. So I can hang up my skates now and stop," said the five-time Olympic champion and six-time world champion at a press conference. In the future, she wants to continue as a coach and consultant. "So I'm still on the ice, but no longer as an athlete."

Last Monday, Pechstein and her partner Matthias Große, and a day later the Isu, announced that the legal dispute over compensation for pain and suffering and damages amounting to around 8,4 million euros had ended after more than 16 years. Both parties reached an out-of-court settlement on February 27. "I have longed for the moment when the case is over for a long time," Pechstein said.

Both sides remained silent about the details of what the ISU called an "amicable agreement". "The ISU recognizes Ms. Pechstein's sporting achievements and welcomes her future contribution to the development of athletes and the sport of speed skating," the world association said. This cleared the way for Pechstein's resignation.

Surprisingly another blood test

The agreement was reached after an oral hearing at the Munich Higher Regional Court on October 24. Pechstein had sued the ISU for what she believed was a wrongful two-year doping ban in 2009 (case number U 1110/14 Kart.). Pechstein had always denied doping and repeated this in court.
With the agreement, she has achieved the most important goal of her years-long struggle, even without a verdict: rehabilitation, removal of the doping stigma, restoration of her good reputation. "Basically, I have never been as close to complete rehabilitation as I am today," said Pechstein after the hearing.

What was surprising was that Pechstein and her father underwent another blood test in a Swiss hospital prior to the agreement. The results showed that she was suffering from a "mild form of dehydrated hereditary stomatocytosis (DHSt)." This is an inherited blood abnormality in which the number of reticulocytes - the young red blood cells - is increased.

Pechstein had already brought this up during her marathon legal proceedings through sports and civil courts. The ISU had banned the speed skater in 2009 due to the increased reticulocyte count and justified this with the "use of the prohibited method of blood doping".

highlights of a long career

Claudia Pechstein competed in her first World Cup race in 1991. It was the start of a unique career. In 1995 she celebrated her first of a total of 34 victories in the series, and in 2017 her last. She is the only woman to have competed in eight Winter Olympics since 2010 - despite her involuntary absence in Vancouver in 1992 - and won nine medals, including five gold medals. She also has six world championship titles and six world records.

At her last Olympic Games in Beijing in 2022, shortly before her 50th birthday, she once again finished ninth in the mass start. "I think I have shown that I am still capable at my age. Few people thought I could do that. I am very, very proud of myself," she said at the time.

But it was already clear in China that Pechstein could no longer compete for podium places internationally. In 2023, she won her 43rd German championship title. At the start of the winter season, which is now coming to an end, she had refrained from taking part in the national championships because of the lawsuit against the ISU and subsequently did not take part in a World Cup race for the first time since 2011.