Prince Von Hohenlohe retires from competitive skiing at World Championships, aged 64
Hohenlohe competed in his 20th World Championship on Friday.
By Issy Ronald, CNN
Aged 64, Mexico’s Prince Hubertus of Hohenlohe-Langenburg competed in his 20th Alpine Ski World Championships on Friday.
A multicolored, lycra-clad smudge against the snow, Hohenlohe failed to finish his first run of the men’s giant slalom as he raced in what is likely his last World Championships outing, 41 years after his first.
“I’d say that was the last one,” he told Eurosport afterwards.
“I probably spent too much time in the sun in Marbella in the summer and didn’t do enough in the gym,” he added.
“Technically it would have been okay, but at some point I really ran out of steam. Every swing was icy, every swing was difficult. It never let up, you never felt like you could rest a bit. If I had wanted very, very much, I might have made it, but it was just super, super exhausting.”
Hohenlohe was born in Mexico, with dual Austrian and Liechtensteiner citizenship, and belongs to the aristocratic House of Hohenlohe. After he didn’t qualify for the Austrian national team, he founded the Mexican Skiing Association in 1981, became its president and was able to compete for the country of his birth.
During his long skiing career, he has competed in six Winter Olympics since 1984, and 20 World Championships, only missing one in 2007 after he broke his leg.
Alongside skiing, he has also pursued a career in photography and as a pop singer, releasing eight records under the names Andy Himalaya and Royal Disaster.
“It would have been nice if I had finished,” Hohenlohe told Eurosport on Friday.
“But at least I didn’t have another net roll like in Cortina. That was a bit embarrassing. My wife thinks I’m completely crazy. She’s always afraid something will happen to me. You have to feel what your body is saying and then decide.”
The-CNN-Wire
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