As the World Cup and Continental Cup seasons have wrapped up, retirement season doesn’t seem close to an end just yet with various athletes announcing their retirements from the sport.

Here are the latest ones:

The slalom race at the U.S. Alpine Championships marked the last ski race for U.S. skier Hailey Duke. The 29-year-old slalom specialist has had a rough last couple of years – she first got left out of the national team but decided to continue pursuing her skiracing dream independently, then in 2013 she discovered that she had a tumor in her pituitary gland, and had to undergo brain surgery.

Despite these challenges, Duke was able to make an impressive recovery and comeback obtaining her goal of competing in World Cup and the World Championships this past season.

"I'm just happy it all came together," Duke said to the Sun Journal. "I got to go take my last World Cup race, finish it all on my own terms and I couldn't ask for more than that. A lot of athletes don't get to do that so I'm pretty proud of myself."

"I think another year would kill me, at least independent," Duke said in the same interview. "When you're doing everything, fundraising everything on your own, it gets to be a lot and I'm proud of what I did and now I'm ready to go to school and start anew.”

Duke is hanging up the skis and going to Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah, to begin the next chapter of her life.

Source: fis-ski.com