Bern, Switzerland – Swiss World Cup speed specialist Martina Schild has announced her retirement from ski racing.

Schild, 31, cited continued back pain from a herniated disc in explaining her exit from the World Cup circuit.  Following dry land training Schild returned to snow on July on the glacier in Zermatt, but as the back pain persisted she first opted to forgo team training in early August in South America, and ultimately to announce her retirement last week.

“The time has come to draw a line,” Schild said. “In my head I’m no longer willing to push my limits.”

Pushing one’s limits, of course, is essential for a skier who specializes in the risky speed disciplines of downhill and super G. The highlight of Schild’s career came at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin, Italy, where the Grindelwald native earned the silver medal in women’s downhill behind Austrian Michaela Dorfmeister.  She also won the World Cup super G at Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada in December 2007. Schild missed the 2010 Winter Olympics in Whistler/Vancouver after crashing in training in St. Moritz, tearing her knee’s anterior cruiciate ligament (ACL).

Schild, who said that she plans to work in a sport shop while she contemplates her future,  is the granddaughter of skier Hedy Schlunegger, who was the downhill Olympic champion of 1948.