March 14 (Reuters) - France's Alexis Pinturault on Saturday said he will retire at the end of the season, calling time on a career which included a World Cup overall title as well as three Olympic medals.
The 34-year-old, who is France's most successful skier in World Cup history with 34 wins, was the overall World Cup champion in 2021.
His final race will be the giant slalom at the finals of the World Cup in Hafjell, Norway on March 24.
"The idea is to move on, it's the right time," Pinturault told reporters.
"I've thought long and hard about it since coming back from injury, especially since last year. I knew from the start that this season would be my last, but I didn’t want to announce it too soon."
His last World Cup victory came in March 2021, when he won a giant slalom event in Lenzerheide, though he finished on the podium three times in both 2022 and 2023.
Pinturault suffered a major injury in 2024 when he ruptured his cruciate ligament during a race in Wengen and he was also airlifted to hospital after a crash in Kitzbuehel in January last year.
Pinturault won the men's combined event at the World Ski Championships in 2019 and 2023 plus silver in 2021 as well as the team event in 2017.
He claimed a silver medal at the 2018 Olympics in the combined and giant slalom bronzes at the 2014 and 2018 Games.
He did not make the cut for the France team at last month's Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)
