Maria Therese Tviberg has ended her career. © APA/afp / FABRICE COFFRINI

Shortly before the start of the season: Ski world champion calls it quits

Shortly before the start of the new season, there is a bombshell in the skiing circus: a reigning world champion has announced the end of her career.

September 12, 2024

From: det

For a long time, Maria Therese Tviberg was far away from the limelight in the skiing circus. But that changed suddenly at the 2023 World Championships in France. The Norwegian, now 30, sensationally won the gold medal in the parallel race, leaving favorite Wendy Holdener behind and celebrating the greatest success of her life.

But her moment of glory was soon followed by a nightmare. Half a year later, Tviberg was "down and out," as she herself put it. She tore the cruciate ligament in her left knee in the giant slalom in Killington. And it was the injury that sealed the end of the 30-year-old's career. On Thursday, Tviberg announced her retirement.

“I can feel the fear of hurting myself again.” Maria Therese Tviberg

“I think a lot of people are shocked that I’m suddenly giving up, considering that I’ve never given up before,” the Norwegian says in an interview with NRK. What Tviberg means by this: The cruciate ligament injury in Killington was not her first serious knee injury.

Several serious knee injuries

The technical specialist had injured her cruciate ligaments several times during her career. "I can feel the fear of injuring myself again. The consequences of another injury would simply be too great. I felt that the time had come for me."



A month and a half before the World Cup opening in Sölden, Maria Therese Tviberg has ended her career. She competed in the World Cup 85 times, with her best result coming in October 2021 when she finished fifth in Sölden. At the 2022 Olympics in China, Tviberg wrote another beautiful chapter in her career when she won the bronze medal in the team competition with Norway. Now she is looking forward to her new life.