This is news we could have done without. Niels Hintermann is indeed suffering from cancer and must draw a line under his season. The 29-year-old Zurich descendant is affected by tumors in the lymph nodes under the neck and under the collarbone. The disease was detected last Tuesday. During the Swiss team’s training camp in South America (the Swiss skiers went to Argentina and Chile), during a physiotherapy session, a lump was spotted in his neck.
This spring, Niels Hintermann had physical difficulty training. However, “this situation probably had nothing to do with it, I still had no symptoms,” he noted at a press conference in Zurich on Wednesday. Besides, he didn’t really know about the disease before being affected. “I only knew Kevin Holdener,” he emphasizes, while Wendy’s brother died at the beginning of the year. “That’s why I’m scared, I’m nervous thinking about the future. Especially since it was a shock for everyone, no one expected it.” Since then, however, the news has been rather reassuring.
Very good chance of recovery
Niels Hintermann got married in the spring and is therefore preparing to face this disease which is curable well, according to the doctors consulted, even if it is rather rare. The giant from Hausen am Albis will still not be able to ski this winter and therefore leaves the Swiss speed team orphaned and in shock, after learning this news. He hopes to be able to resume the thread of his career after his recovery, from next summer, since there should be almost no after-effects. “The chances of recovery are very good,” he confirmed. Niels Hintermann will still have to undergo chemotherapy and radiotherapy sessions. “The therapy as well as the convalescence should last approximately six months,” announces Swiss-Ski in a press release.
Logically and even if being an athlete will help him heal quickly, the Zurich resident will need rest. “The treatment corresponds to rolling with a steamroller on a tube of mayonnaise,” described Swiss team doctor Walter O. Frey. “Then you have to fill the tube. But this one is still there.” The doctor also reassures by reminding that the disease was detected early and that it does not affect any other part of the skier’s body.
Three World Cup successes
Last season, Niels Hintermann finished 6th in the Downhill World Cup rankings, after winning the Kvitfjell event, on a track that suits him perfectly. Third in the Junior World Championships in Hafjell in 2015, he has seven podiums on the White Circus, including his surprise combined victory in Wengen in 2017 and two successes in Kvitfjell, in 2022 and 2024. He also took third place in Kitzbühel in 2023.
LMO
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