Daniele Sette Calls Time on Alpine Ski Career

Daniele Sette has announced his retirement from competitive alpine skiing, bringing the curtain down on a career defined as much by stubborn perseverance as by the brilliant flash of form that briefly placed him among the World Cup's best.

The 34-year-old from St. Moritz made the announcement on his Instagram profile in a heartfelt statement that left little doubt he had given the sport everything he had. "Now it feels like I've given it my all," he wrote. "I hated it, I loved it. I suffered, celebrated, wanted to give up — and still kept going. I was afraid, determined, questioned life, felt peace, lost myself and found myself again. I felt alone, loved, angry, understood, overlooked, and happy. I lived through every emotion and in the end, I loved them all."

Sette's career peaked on 28 February 2021, when he delivered the performance of his life at the World Cup giant slalom in Bansko, Bulgaria. With the best time in the second run, he charged from 23rd after the opening leg all the way to 11th place at the finish — a career-best result and one of four top-20 finishes he would accumulate across his 34 World Cup starts.

What followed was a slow and difficult descent from those heights. In the spring of 2023, he lost his place in the Swiss-Ski squad. That summer, he suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon. Still he refused to walk away. Where many athletes in his position would have accepted the writing on the wall, Sette sought another way. He joined the Global Racing Ski Team and began financing the continuation of his career out of his own pocket.

This season, he made one final push to reclaim a place on the World Cup circuit. He competed in FIS races in North America, hoping to impress the Swiss selectors and force his way back into the country's fiercely competitive World Cup lineup. The return to the very top, however, did not come — and so the decision, when it arrived, was a clear-eyed one.

His most recent competitive appearances came at Whiteface Mountain in February, where he raced in the Nor-Am Cup giant slalom.

Sette reserved his warmest words in his retirement statement for those who stood by him throughout. His family and friends, he wrote, made the journey worth taking. "Sharing this journey with you is what made everything truly worthwhile."

He has chosen to sign off in fitting style. Sette lined up for his final race at the Swiss Championships — a giant slalom on home snow in St. Moritz. "I couldn't have imagined a better last race than the Swiss Championships at home in St. Moritz," he wrote. "One last time. On Sunday. In front of family and friends."

It is a send-off that befits a skier who, for all the institutional obstacles that eventually stood in his way, never stopped loving what he did.