Two-time Olympic medalist Ragnhild Mowinckel to retire at end of ski season next month
Two-time Olympic medalist Ragnhild Mowinckel to retire at end of ski season next month
Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel reacts after winning an alpine ski, women’s World Cup downhill race, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)
Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel celebrates winning an alpine ski, women’s World Cup downhill race, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)
Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women’s World Cup downhill training, in Crans Montana, Switzerland, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Giovanni Pizzato)
Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel lies on the snow after crashing during an alpine ski, women’s World Cup super-G, in Crans Montana, Switzerland, Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Giovanni Maria Pizzato)
Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel reacts after winning an alpine ski, women’s World Cup downhill race, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)
Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel reacts after winning an alpine ski, women’s World Cup downhill race, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)
Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel celebrates winning an alpine ski, women’s World Cup downhill race, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)
Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel celebrates winning an alpine ski, women’s World Cup downhill race, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)
Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women’s World Cup downhill training, in Crans Montana, Switzerland, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Giovanni Pizzato)
Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women’s World Cup downhill training, in Crans Montana, Switzerland, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Giovanni Pizzato)
Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel lies on the snow after crashing during an alpine ski, women’s World Cup super-G, in Crans Montana, Switzerland, Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Giovanni Maria Pizzato)
Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel lies on the snow after crashing during an alpine ski, women’s World Cup super-G, in Crans Montana, Switzerland, Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Giovanni Maria Pizzato)
KVITFJELL, Norway (AP) — Two-time Olympic medalist Ragnhild Mowinckel said Monday she will stop her ski racing career at the end of the season.
“I think eight-year-old Ragnhild would be very proud of 31-year-old Ragnhild,” the Norwegian racer said in a video message on her Instagram account. “She had dreams that I feel like we did together.”
Mowinckel took Olympic silver medals at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games in downhill and giant slalom.
Her career was then paused by twice rupturing the ACL in her right knee in 2019, forcing her to miss the 2019-20 season.
Mowinckel returned to the top level, getting three more of her four career World Cup race wins and taking a second career world championships bronze medal, in giant slalom at the 2023 event. She also took bronze in combined at the 2019 worlds, one month before her first knee injury.
She said the decision to retire was taken before her victory last month in the signature women’s downhill at Cortina d’Ampezzo — the storied Italian course that will stage women’s Alpine races at the 2026 Olympics.
“I’m happy to walk away on my own terms,” Mowinckel said, adding in a tearful video message the feeling of retiring was “strange, but nice.”
She will race in front of her home fans this weekend at Kvitfjell, which stages a downhill and super-G, and plans to complete the season at the World Cup finals meeting from March 16-24 at Saalbach, Austria.
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