Skiing farewell: South Tyrol loses its best slalom skier

The wave of retirements in domestic skiing continues: After Manuel Ploner and Vivien Insam, South Tyrol's best slalom skier has now also had enough.

25 April 2025

From: det

"Eternally grateful": These two words are captioned below the latest post on Vera Tschurtschenthaler's Instagram profile. The whole thing is accompanied by a video in which the 28-year-old from Sexten can be seen on the World Cup course, but also as a little girl taking her first steps on skis. These are emotional scenes, especially when the context behind them becomes clear: This clip is Tschurtschenthaler's farewell video.

The Pustertal native announced the end of her career this week. South Tyrol is losing not only its current best slalom skier, but above all a fighter who has impressively defied all adversities and difficulties in recent years. Tschurtschenthaler was in the World Cup starting gate 29 times, scoring points three times, and in February 2024, she finished 18th, achieving the best result of her career. "I am particularly proud of this moment. This was the first time I have achieved such a good result as a one-woman team," she said in an interview with SportNews.

Vera Tschurtschenthaler in action. © ANSA / Kimmo Brandt

What Tschurtschenthaler means by this: The Sexten native was often left out of the running during her career and not part of the national team – including in the past two seasons. While she was allowed to compete in World Cup and European Cup races, she had to organize everything herself. "It's a huge challenge, not just financially, but above all mentally," says Tschurtschenthaler. "It starts with the little things. After a training session or a race, I couldn't just put my feet up in my hotel room; I had to spend a few hours in the ski room preparing my skis. It's a powerful thing when you see that everyone has a team behind them, but you're the only one on your own."

“That has often been unfair.” Vera Tschurtschenthaler

In recent years, Tschurtschenthaler has taken on this effort and, despite all adversities, has been the best South Tyrolean slalom skier. "It makes me a little proud that I managed to do it, that I delivered good results despite this huge challenge," says Vera. At the same time, she emphasizes that she didn't always understand the association's decisions—namely, the squad exclusions. "It was often unfair. But I tried not to think about it too much, because things like that only bring you down."

A big thank you to Dad

Throughout her career, Tschurtschenthaler has had some very loyal companions, especially her parents. "My dad, Roman, supported me from a young age and was always by my side, even in the most difficult times. I would also like to thank my long-time sponsor, Daunenstep, who has supported me over the past seven years," says the skier. What's next? "I don't have a specific plan yet. But I will approach the new challenge with the same passion as I have had all those years on the slopes."