April 02, 2014 – The FIS Cross-Country World Cup season 2013/14 was the last one for several great cross-country skiers. Some of the notable retirements announced thus far are listed recapped below:

Canada's Devon Kershaw (l) out-lunged for 4th by Tobias Angerer (Ger) in the men's 50km CL at Vancouver 2010. © courtesy of Devon Kershaw

Four top Germans set to retire

Tobias Angerer, Jens Filbrich, Axel Teichmann and Katrin Zeller announced their retirements. Angerer had his 300^th, and last, career World Cup start in Oslo Holmenkollen (NOR). He retires as a double overall World Cup winner, four-time Olympic medalist and seven-time FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalist. Angerer plans towork in a marketing agency.

After 15 years on the World Cup, Filbrich retired as well.. During his career, Filbrich collected five individual World Cup podiums and six medals from the World Championships. Filbrich was a valuable member of the German Olympic team and helped to win bronze medal in the relay in Salt Lake City (USA) and silver in Torino (ITA).

2004/05 FIS XC Overall WCup winners Marit Bjoergen (Nor) (l) and Axel Teichmann (Ger) © Nordic Focus

Teichmann dominated the World Cup in the 2004/2005 season. During his long career he won eight individual World Cup competitions and finished 20 times on the podium. He is double World Champion and has claimed six medals in team sprint and relay. The Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver 2010 (CAN) were the highlight of Teichmann’s career as he won two silver medals.

The German ladies team will be missing Katrin Zeller. Since her World Cup debut, Zeller started in 123 individual World Cup competitions. At the World Championships in Liberec (CZE) 2009, Zeller claimed the silver medal in the relay which she repeated one year later at the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver where she was member of the silver German team.

Katrina Zeller (Ger) © Nordic Focus

Gruber and Eigenmann retire in Switzerland

With a sprint title at the Swiss Championships last weekend, Bettina Gruber successfully concluded her career. The sprint specialist debuted in the Davos World Cup in 2006. “In my career I was able to celebrate successes, but also had setbacks. The highlight was the Olympic Games in Sochi for me. Now the right time has come to begin a new chapter in my life,” explained Gruber.

Also at the end of the season, Christoph Eigenmann announced his retirement. The 34 -year-old sprinter competed in three Olympic Games and five World Championships.  “I look back happily on 15 exciting and interesting years in professional sport. I was able to turn my hobby into a career which has given me a tremendous amount of fun. I would like to thank all those who supported me on this journey. Now I am looking forward to a new life with work as a frontier guard, coach training and more time with my family, ” said Eigenmann.

Canada's Chandra Crawford © Nordic Focus

Canada’s Chandra Crawford to retire

Chandra Crawford will transition from focusing on her own sporting career to inspiring thousands of Canadian girls to get hooked on a healthy, active lifestyle.

After racing with the top athletes on the World Cup circuit for more than a decade, which included appearances at three junior and four senior World Championships, the three-time Olympian has decided to retire.

Crawford will move her career focus to completing a business and leadership education to provide her with the skill set required to successfully run the national Fast and Female programme she spearheaded in advance of shocking the world with her Olympic victory in 2006.