Skiing
Why achieving success off-piste now means everything to Marcel Hirscher
Austrian alpine skiing icon Marcel Hirscher retired from competing back in 2019. His new venture sees him collaborating with Red Bull to launch his own brand of skis.
When your closest competitors refer to you as the greatest of all time, you know you’ve made it. Hailing from a small mountain town in the Salzburg region, Marcel Hirscher stood as the world’s best ski racer for over a decade – until he decided to retire, with 67 career World Cup wins, eight consecutive World Cup titles and a handful of medals from the biggest sporting stage of them all, including two golds. A living legend? No question.
So when he hung up his boots in 2019, you might have figured he’d take it easy for bit. You know, relax. But as anyone who knows him could tell you, Hirscher wouldn’t sit still for long. In 2021 Hirscher, developed and planned to launched a brand of skis called Van Deer. He eventually partnered with Red Bull become a registered ski manufacturer under the VAN DEER-Red Bull Sports name.
"Red Bull is a long-standing supporter and partner of mine," he said at the time of the VAN DEER and Red Bull collaboration announcement. "We share the same values and pursue the same sporting vision. I know that by working together, we can take skiing to the next level."
Hirscher hopes VAN DEER - Red Bull Sports can take skiing to a new level
© Joerg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool
Kristoffersen will compete on Hirscher’s VAN DEER - Red Bull Sports skis
© Joerg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool
The skis took to the slopes for the first time in the 2022-23 season with VAN DEER-Red Bull Sports signing up three athletes to race on their equipment – Charlie Raposo from the UK and Timon Haugan and Henrik Kristoffersen from Norway.
VAN DEER was originally born from something Hirscher calls Project 68. It’s a reference to the 67 World Cup wins he achieved – and his desire to get the next one for VAN DEER-Red Bull Sports. “Project 68 was always the idea to get a win on my own ski, so the name Hirscher can keep winning, without me doing the skiing,” he says.
I love to develop gear, especially on skis – to tune and make skis for every condition, and that’s what I did the last six months
The aim of the project has already been achieved with Kristoffersen winning on the skis at the Garmisch-Partenkirchen slalom Alpine World Cup race in January earlier this year. VAN DEER-Red Bull Sports skis also took Kristoffersen to the World Championship slalom gold medal in 2023.
Watch VAN DEER-Red Bull Sports skis in action during the brand’s first World Cup season in the video player at the top of this page.
The meticulous side to his nature means Hirscher fits perfectly to his new role, and if he hadn’t been a ski racer, he very well might have been a technician or ski designer. He absolutely loves to tinker and tune – to the point where he’d drive his coaches and team-mates mad over getting the techhnical aspects of the ski right.
“I would never call myself an entrepreneur,” he says. "I love to develop gear, especially on skis – to tune and make skis for every condition, and that’s what I did the last six months.”
Hirscher can turn his hand to many skills
© Joerg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool
So what's the story behind the name VAN DEER? Over to Hirscher…
“I’m half Dutch, half Austrian – so all the guys used to call me Von Dutch because of that," says Hirscher. But what about deer? "Well, in German, a hirsch – yes, just like Hirscher – is a deer. When we formed the brand, we didn’t want to call it Hirscher, so it’s just a little play on words. Here in Austria, on television or in the newspaper, people are always saying ’the skis from Hirscher!’”
While skiing was both his passion and profession, Hirscher has always been a multi-sport aficionado and away from developing VAN DEER he's been doing other sports. From whitewater kayaking to off-road motorcycling, he's been seeking thrills everywhere. After his retirement, followers and fans saw him doing all that – paddling, biking, in the gym or tearing up the dirt with Dakar legends like Matthias Walkner – even going so far as to join the world-famous Red Bull Erzbergrodeo motorcycle race this year.
Want to see how that went? Check out the race clip below, or head here to see how he tackled practice.
10 min
Hirscher x Erzberg: the race
See how ski champ Marcel Hirscher tackles the legendary Red Bull Erzbergrodeo Hard Enduro for the first time.
But why, after risking his body for so many years on the slalom course, does he keep on pushing it? For Hirscher, the answer is simple.
“I truly enjoy a pretty active lifestyle – I like to be in motion, I like speed, I like g-force – so I still like skiing steep faces and maybe jumping a few cliffs,” he explains. “But these days it’s all about the joy and the adventure, so it’s definitely not as hard as I pushed before. It’s all calculated risk, especially with skiing. Although, snow is the surface I'm used to – for something like Erzberg, I do a lot of training, and prep.”
So it’s safe to say, when Hirscher’s not riding bikes, paddling boats or free skiing, you’ll see him back at the World Cup races – just this time, on the sidelines cheering on the athletes on his skis.