The 36-year-old competed at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics and won a silver medal in the parallel slalom at the 2013 World Championships in Stoneham in Canada.

Reiter competed in exactly 100 World Cup competitions, finishing on the podium four times.

This included victory at a city event in Russian capital Moscow in 2015, in front of a crowd of thousands.

The American also became known for his lawsuit against the International Olympic Committee (IOC) after his favoured parallel slalom discipline was removed from the programme for Pyeongchang 2018.

Only parallel giant slalom will be contested in South Korea after the IOC acted in June 2015 to make room for curling mixed doubles, speed skating mass start, an Alpine skiing team event and snowboard big air.

This was done with the agreement of the International Ski Federation but Reiter claimed the IOC had broken its own rules, which he said prohibited changing an Olympic schedule within three years of the Winter Games.

The lawsuit was eventually dropped.

"This was a hard decision as the 2018 Olympic season is finally here," said Reiter. 

"But in the end, I just no longer felt the same fire in my heart as I used to. 

"To be the best you have to give your best. 

"I could no longer continue to commit all that I am to the sport I love so much.

"It has been a wild ride and everyone has added to the colour of the memories I will carry with me.

"I offer my sincere gratitude to everyone who has been a part of this chapter of my life - my parents, my coaches, my team-mates and my friends."