Austria's Most Successful Alpine Snowboarder Retires
The silver medal at the Olympic Games in Milan/Cortina was her happy ending: Sabine Payer concludes her highly successful snowboarding career.
A major announcement from the ÖSV Snowboard team: Sabine Payer, the most successful Austrian alpine snowboarder in World Cup history, has announced her retirement.
The 33-year-old Carinthian has a record 21 World Cup victories (13 individual, 8 team) to her name, along with two small team crystal globes, three World Championship medals, and Olympic silver in the parallel giant slalom at Milan/Cortina 2026.
"The Olympic Games, with the silver medal, were an incredibly beautiful happy ending and a cool conclusion to an amazing time, during which I experienced so much. I was already glad that, given my previous situation in Livigno, I was actually able to start. It was even more wonderful then to win silver and receive congratulations from many competitors who were happy for me. It's not an easy decision to end my career. Of course, there's a touch of sadness involved, but after 16 seasons on the World Cup circuit, it's the right time and it feels right," explained Payer.
ÖSV Team Loses "Major Asset"
Payer, whose husband Alexander Payer is also a snowboarder, intends to continue contributing her expertise to youth development work at the Simonhöhe snowboard training center.
"Sabine Payer was a major support for our team and maintained her position at the absolute world top for over a decade. Her Olympic story also serves as the best proof that with hard and consistent work, it is possible to overcome setbacks. I congratulate Sabine on an extraordinarily successful career, in which she brought us many moments of joy, and I wish her all the best and great success for her private and professional future," said Christian Galler, the Sports Director for Alpine and Cross Snowboarding at the ÖSV.
