Swiss downhill racer Niels Hintermann diagnosed with cancer and will miss ski season for treatment
Swiss downhill racer Niels Hintermann diagnosed with cancer and will miss ski season for treatment
Swiss ski racer Niels Hintermann talks about his health to communicate that he will skip the upcoming 2024/25 competition season, at a media conference at the Hirslanden Clinic in Zurich, Switzerland, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (Ennio Leanza/Keystone via AP)
FILE - Switzerland’s Niels Hintermann celebrates on the podium after winning an alpine ski, men’s World Cup downhill race, in Kvitfjell, Norway, Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati, File)
Swiss ski racer Niels Hintermann, left, talks about his health to communicate that he will skip the upcoming 2024/25 competition season, as he sits next to Walter O. Frey, responsible doctor for alpine skiing, at a media conference at the Hirslanden Clinic in Zurich, Switzerland, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (Ennio Leanza/Keystone via AP)
Swiss ski racer Niels Hintermann talks about his health to communicate that he will skip the upcoming 2024/25 competition season, at a media conference at the Hirslanden Clinic in Zurich, Switzerland, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (Ennio Leanza/Keystone via AP)
Swiss ski racer Niels Hintermann talks about his health to communicate that he will skip the upcoming 2024/25 competition season, at a media conference at the Hirslanden Clinic in Zurich, Switzerland, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (Ennio Leanza/Keystone via AP)
FILE - Switzerland’s Niels Hintermann celebrates on the podium after winning an alpine ski, men’s World Cup downhill race, in Kvitfjell, Norway, Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati, File)
FILE - Switzerland’s Niels Hintermann celebrates on the podium after winning an alpine ski, men’s World Cup downhill race, in Kvitfjell, Norway, Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati, File)
Swiss ski racer Niels Hintermann, left, talks about his health to communicate that he will skip the upcoming 2024/25 competition season, as he sits next to Walter O. Frey, responsible doctor for alpine skiing, at a media conference at the Hirslanden Clinic in Zurich, Switzerland, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (Ennio Leanza/Keystone via AP)
Swiss ski racer Niels Hintermann, left, talks about his health to communicate that he will skip the upcoming 2024/25 competition season, as he sits next to Walter O. Frey, responsible doctor for alpine skiing, at a media conference at the Hirslanden Clinic in Zurich, Switzerland, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (Ennio Leanza/Keystone via AP)
ZURICH (AP) — Swiss downhill racer Niels Hintermann has been diagnosed with lymph node cancer and will miss the entire ski season.
The 29-year-old Hintermann, a three-time race winner on the World Cup circuit, revealed the diagnosis Wednesday at a news conference.
Hintermann, who got married in June, noticed a swelling in his neck after an offseason training camp in South America. Cancerous tumors were detected in his neck and collar bone.
“The chances of recovery are very good. Everything is under control,” Hintermann said in translated comments.
He is scheduled for two rounds of chemotherapy treatment with a total recovery time of about six months possible, the Swiss ski federation said in a statement.
Swiss team doctor Walter Frey said it was hoped Hintermann will be able to return to racing in the 2025-26 season.
Hintermann has competed in 100 World Cup races over the past nine years and at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. He placed 16th in men’s downhill.
His first World Cup victory came as a surprise on home Swiss snow at Wengen, in an Alpine combined event in 2017 where he wore bib No. 51. He has two downhill wins at Kvitfjell, Norway, in 2022 and again last February.
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