I've been thinking about this a lot, and I'm fairly convinced by now that Marcel is just the best of all time. He's just simply one step above every other great skier. Am I wrong? Am I right?
Another 200 pts this weekend for the Hirscher! A pity that Schwarz could not finish his 2nd run after leading the 1st, similarly to last weekend’s SL in Zagreb.
His win in the GS in Garmisch-Partenkirchen broke the record.
Only Ingemar Stenmark (SWE) has more World Cup wins than Hirscher, but the gap is still big as Stenmark won 86 races in his career.
He has now the same number of wins as Swiss Vreni Schneider but still needs 7 more to catch up with Austria's most successful skier ever, Annemarie Moser-Pröll. However, the gap to the second most successful skier of all genders, Lindsey Vonn (79 wins), is still large.
Hirscher repeatedly stated in interview's in recent years that he wants to retire after the 2018 Olympics, though he did not confirm these plans during this season. If he becomes an Olmypic Champion this year, I think there's a good chance Hirscher actually retires. But we'll see. I could see him continuing his career to break more records, if he considers himself physically fit enough.
After his wins in Kranjska Gora's GS and slalom this weekend, Hirscher (1494 points) can't be overtaken anymore by Kristoffersen (1205 points), who will only compete in two more races.
What a season Hirscher had. 12 World Cup races won (so far), 2 Olympic Gold medals, and now 3 Crystal Globes. He also became Austria's most successful male skier in history, overtaking legendary Hermann Maier (54 races won). He has now won 57 World Cup races and 17 Crystal Globes in total.
Edit: Hirscher is also the first one ever (both genders) to win the Overall World Cup 7 times, surpassing Austrian Annemarie Moser-Pröll, who won it six times between 1971 and 1980.
