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SOELDEN, Austria — Two ski stars coming out of retirement put the spotlights in the buildup to the 2024-25 World Cup season on Brazil and the Netherlands. The two nations are usually not associated with top-level ski racing. Former World Cup slalom champion Lucas Pinheiro Braathen will start for Brazil after racing for Norway until leaving the sport a year ago. Two-time Olympic gold medalist and record eight-time overall champion Marcel Hirscher returns after five years and has switched from the Austrian to the Dutch ski federation. Hirscher says "it makes no difference if I wear an orange race suit or a red-white-red one."
