Skier Tina Maze ends career, wants one final appearance in Maribor
Maze said she wanted to appear one last time at the top level to wrap up her career in front of fans and friends in Maribor at the Golden Fox giant slalom race on 7 January next year. Her first appearance in World Cup was in Maribor in 1999, when she was just 15.
The 33-year-old announced her decision in front of a full room of journalists and people who followed her career in Sölden, Austria, where she bagged her first World Cup victory 14 years ago, on 26 October 2002.
This was the first major success in her brilliant career that has brought her 26 World Cup victories, 81 podium results, four World Champion titles and two Olympic gold medals.
In total, she has won 13 medals at major competitions, four Olympic and nine World Championship medals. Slovenia's best Alpine skier has even set a world record by winning 2,414 points in a single World Cup season in the absolute category for both men and women.
In that season, 2012/2013, she won her one and only overall World Cup Crystal Globe and surprised her fans with a music video My Way Is My Decision, featuring her coach and partner Andrea Massi.
In the gap year that Maze announced in May 2015, she mostly took time for herself, but she also acted as expert commentator for Eurosport and donned her graduation cap to formally become a teacher of elementary education.
"I have a bunch of plans for the future, among others I've started to work with Fila, I want to make a documentary on my Team to aMaze and I will continue to work with Eurosport," the star skier concluded, pointing to a contract with the sports channel through Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics.
Her decision has already triggered an avalanche of reactions on social media, many regretting the end of her career and wishing her well in the future.
Prime Minister Miro Cerar tweeted that he now had an additional reason to visit the Golden Fox race and wished her a successful and happy future, and President Borut Pahor wished her well and said Slovenia was proud of her.