Citing the physical toll extracted from many years of elite-level competition, Canadian ski aerialist Steve Omischl is retiring to become a youth coach and a grassroots advocate for the sport.
The 31-year-old freestyle skier from North Bay has a cabinet full of awards as an athlete. He won 20 of the 81 World Cup events he entered and was on the podium another 20 times. He was the season champion three years and won a gold at the 2005 world championships.
"This sport has given me everything and it would be a shame for me to walk away," he said in a release. "It would be selfish and dumb. It's time to help the next group of kids."
Omischl already has six skiers - ranging in age from 9 to 12 - enrolled in his Whistler-based training program.
"The challenge at Whistler is that there are so many divergent opportunities," he said in the release. "My job is to make aerials fun, cool and interesting enough to get them hooked."
Omischl placed eighth at the 2010 Winter Olympics, his best performance at a Games. He had finished in 20th spot four years earlier in Turin, and was 11th at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
"To see what I was capable of in the years coming up to the [Vancouver]Games, I know I'll never be any better than I was," he said. "It's kind of a sad prospect that it's all downhill from here"
He has not ruled out a return to competition, but said his body is "done" after more than a decade of competing in the sport at the world level.