No race comeback yet

Bang effect! Hirscher breaks off New Zealand camp

Marcel Hirscher recently trained in New Zealand for his comeback.(Bild: Miles Holden / Red Bull Content Pool)

Ski superstar Marcel Hirscher was supposed to make his race comeback on Tuesday in Coronet Peak, New Zealand. But that will not happen, as Hirscher - who is now competing for the Netherlands - will soon be on his way back to Europe.

Two giant slaloms and two slaloms in the ANC series (the counterpart to the European Cup) are on the program from Tuesday in Coronet Peak on New Zealand's South Island. Four races that Marcel Hirscher actually chose as the stage for his big race comeback after a 1990-day break. But that's not going to happen.

Marcel Hirscher is about to take off from New Zealand.(Bild: Miles Holden / Red Bull Content Pool)

Hirscher and his team have been working hard in New Zealand recently.(Bild: Miles Holden / Red Bull Content Pool)

However, Hirscher fans will still have to wait for a race comeback.(Bild: Miles Holden / Red Bull Content Pool)

"Marcel Hirscher had originally called for the ANC events in Coronet Peak," revealed a representative of the organizer Winter Games NZ to the always well-informed online platform "Skinews.ch" on Sunday morning Central European Time. "However, he and his team have changed their plans and will be leaving New Zealand today." A little later, the Hirscher team also confirmed this. 

Rain as a spoilsport
Over the past two days, the rain proved to be a massive spoilsport. "We traveled to Coronet Peak as planned, but saw on site that it wouldn't have made much sense to stay any longer due to the borderline snow conditions and the weather forecasts. So we decided to fly home a few days earlier than planned," Hirscher reveals. 

"The fitness build-up is right"
The race pace in different, sometimes difficult conditions was extremely physically demanding, but he is still positive: "It was confirmation for me that the fitness build-up is right."

The fact is: the cancellation of the New Zealand camp shouldn't change much on the actual comeback schedule towards the World Cup opener in Sölden. After all, the 35-year-old has already qualified for the giant slalom on the Rettenbach-Ferner, which is scheduled for October 27, thanks to a wild card.