Park City, UT, April 10, 2001--Downhill racer Jason Rosener (Breckenridge, CO), a 1998 Olympian and former World Junior Championships medal-winner, has decided to retire from World Cup racing, the U.S. Ski Team said Tuesday.
A two-time junior national champion, Rosener was the downhill bronze medalist at the 1994 World Junior Championshipsat Whiteface Mountain near Lake Placid, N.Y. He competed in the 1997 World Championships and was 15th in downhill at the'98 Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan.
Rosener, 26, who missed all of the '99 and '00 seasons due to recurring back problems, returned to skiing on a limited basisthis past season, but said he wasn't where he had hoped to be and the back ailments forced him to reassess his career. "Thebottom line for me was that I'm not able to train and work the way I need to in order to continue my pursuit of being thebest ski racer in the world," he said.
Bill Egan, who was downhill head coach and then men's head coach as Rosener moved onto the U.S. Ski Team, said Rosenerwas making a good decision. ""I'm happy Jason was able to put himself back in the position where he was able to finish theseason - and his career - in a ski race, not just watching. He's in better physical condition than he's been in for quite awhile and that's a great tribute to his effort to recover. But we discussed it and the road to realizing his dreams is toolong at this point and he risks further injury, so I think he's making a smart move and I fully support it. He's a terrificyoung man and I'm glad he was with us."
Rosener said he planned to resume his career with Charles Schwab, where he started a couple of years ago as a summerintern in the company's Colorado Springs office.
