Olympic medalist Zurbriggen retires from skiing

Switzerland's Silvan Zurbriggen. (Brennan Linsley/AP)

GENEVA — Olympic medallist Silvan Zurbriggen says he has retired from Alpine skiing at age 33 because of persistent back injuries.

Zurbriggen, who earned bronze at the 2010 Vancouver Games in the super-combined, is the third Olympic medallist from Switzerland to end their career in recent weeks.

He follows Didier Defago, the 2010 Olympic downhill champion, and Dominique Gisin, the 2014 Sochi Games downhill co-winner with Slovenian Tina Maze, in leaving the sport.

Zurbriggen had two World Cup wins in an 11-year career: In traditional combined at Kitzbuehel, Austria, in 2009, and downhill at Val Gardena. Italy, in 2010.

Zurbriggen will start work in September with a bank which sponsored him, according to a statement by the Swiss skiing federation.

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.