Marco Schwarz is stepping away from slalom. The 31-year-old Austrian announced on Tuesday, at an event hosted by his head sponsor in Vienna, that from the coming World Cup season he will concentrate on giant slalom, super-G and selected downhills. He said he would let slalom "fade out" of his programme.
"One of the hardest decisions"
It was not an easy call. "It was one of the hardest decisions I've had so far," Schwarz said, as quoted by Swiss broadcaster SRF. "But with everything that goes with it, the planning and the FIS calendar, it just can't be reconciled any more." In his view, a crowded World Cup schedule and the physical load make it no longer realistic to race all four disciplines at the top level.
His reasoning was blunt. "It makes more sense to focus on certain things than to be mediocre in four disciplines," he said, according to Austrian outlet heute.at. He wants to pool his strength "so that I can win races and get on the podium."
The door is not completely closed, though. SRF reports that Schwarz will keep training slalom and could return for selected World Cup slaloms after the World Championships in Crans-Montana in February.
The knee injury that changed everything
The move takes one of Austria's most versatile racers out of the discipline that made his name. Three of Schwarz's eight World Cup wins came in slalom: Adelboden and Schladming in 2021, and Madonna di Campiglio in December 2023. According to Olympia.at, he collected 14 slalom podiums in total, including four second places and seven thirds. In 2021 he also won the slalom crystal globe.
The Madonna di Campiglio win turned out to be his last big slalom moment. Just a week later, Schwarz crashed heavily and suffered a torn ACL, a torn meniscus and cartilage damage in his knee. Olympia.at notes that he never regained his previous consistency in slalom after that. His most recent World Cup slalom, in Lillehammer in March, ended in 19th place.
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For the Austrian team, the decision shifts the balance. The slalom squad loses an experienced race winner, while the giant slalom and speed groups gain a racer who can now target his energy more precisely. Schwarz is regarded as one of the few skiers capable of challenging Marco Odermatt for the overall title. Dropping slalom costs him a potential source of points. In return, he gains more time for training and recovery between races in his core events.
He was not the only big name to rethink slalom on Tuesday. Mikaela Shiffrin announced the same day that she will race significantly fewer slaloms this winter and shift her focus towards giant slalom and super-G.
The first test of Schwarz's new approach comes in just over two weeks. The World Cup opens with giant slaloms in Sölden on 24 and 25 October, and the men race on the Rettenbach glacier on the Sunday.
