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Simon Schempp: "In the end, I couldn't be the biathlete I was for a long time."
Photo:
Sven Hoppe / dpa
The four-time biathlon world champion Simon Schempp ends his career with immediate effect.
The once best German biathlete announced on Instagram on Thursday.
After many health setbacks, the 32-year-old Schempp has not reached the top of the world in the past two years.
In addition to eight World Cup medals, the long-standing final runner in the German men's relay won two silver and one bronze medals at the Olympics.
"For some time now I have felt that my body is no longer fully resilient, and unfortunately my irrepressible will could not change anything in this state," wrote Schempp in his text addressed to the biathlon.
“In the end I couldn't be the biathlete I was for a long time, neither in competition nor in training.
I cannot and will not ignore this signal any longer. "
Schempp became world champion in the mass start in 2017 and just missed the Olympic victory a year later in the same discipline.
In Pyeongchang he had to admit defeat to Frenchman Martin Fourcade in the final sprint.
After a wheel fall in the summer of 2018, Schempp repeatedly had problems and could not find his way back to the old form.
This year the twelve-time World Cup winner missed a World Cup for the third time in a row and now drew the consequences.
"Of course that was the hardest decision of my career, but it feels good and just right," wrote the man from Ruhpolding, who now wants to concentrate on his professional training and is aiming for a university degree as an industrial engineer.
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ptz / dpa
