Austrian ski queen Marlies Schild announced her retirement from the slopes on Tuesday saying she had “lived a dream” but that it was now time for a change of direction.
Schild has dominated the women’s World Cup slalom scene over the past 12 years, winning a record 35 races in her favoured discipline.
Her 35th slalom success, in Lienz at the end of 2013, dislodged by one the previous slalom record holder Vreni Schneider of Switzerland.
It was also her last World Cup win.
“I’ve lived a dream that I’d held on to since I was a little girl,” Schild told a press conference in Vienna.
“But the time’s now come for me to move on to something else in my life. From today, my career is over,” added the 33-year-old from Salzbourg.
Schild, who underwent knee surgery in 2012, claimed the World Cup slalom title four times (in 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012) and the super combined title in 2007.
She was crowned slalom world champion in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 2011 but heads into retirement without an Olympic gold medal.
She took bronze at the Turin Games in 2006 and silver in Vancouver in 2010 and again this year in Sochi.