Beat Feuz and the end of an era in downhill sports

“I don’t want to attract attention with a costume, but with a fast time,” Feuz recently announced at a press conference. He was referring to one of his teammates who was one of the greats of downhill skiing in his first years as a ski racer: Didier Cuche. At the end of the 2011/12 season, he left the ski racing stage in a giant slalom in a retro look on wooden skis. “That was a nice story,” said Feuz, “but anyone who knows me knows that my farewell has to have something to do with a real competition.”

Feuz had already said goodbye to the audience in his Swiss homeland last weekend - and with quite impressive performances. He took seventh place in the Super-G and even fifth place in the downhill. His partner Kathrin Triendl, a former Austrian ski racer, was waiting for him in the finish area with their two children.

He remained true to himself Of course, Feuz never became a kind of Swiss national hero like Pirmin Zurbriggen was in the 1980s. He wasn't looking for this role either, preferring to enjoy his peace and quiet and stay true to his character. The fact that he had moved his place of residence to Austria years ago may have contributed to this. The Emmental native also consistently refused to give interviews in English. So it's probably up to his young teammate Marco Odermatt to fill the role of the new star of Swiss ski racing, which the public has been waiting for for so long.

Beat Feuz was undoubtedly a ski racer with exceptional talent. The story of how often he had to fear for the survival of his career has been replicated countless times. At the end of 2012, when he had just clinched his first victories in the World Cup, he was faced with many question marks. From the comeback in winter 2013/14, however, things only went uphill. Feuz was able to win the Downhill World Cup four times - even though, as Bernhard Russi, another great of Swiss ski racing, said, he did not ski at 100 percent in most of his races. There is no question that the now 36-year-old was able to deliver top performances at the right moments, especially in the downhill at the home World Championships in St. Moritz in 2017 and at the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2022.

After Matthias Mayer and Mauro Caviezel, the third speed rider is leaving the Alpine Ski World Cup within a short period of time. Ending your career mid-season seems to be fashionable at the moment. In the case of Beat Feuz, it was undoubtedly the career of a racing runner who was distinguished by a very special flair and talent.

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Beat Feuz and the end of an era in downhill sports

There, where he celebrated his last three of a total of 16 World Cup victories, a great skiing career will come to an end this weekend. With Beat Feuz, alpine ski racing has lost a defining figure, one of those unmistakable characters who are often said to have become rare.

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