VIENNA (AP) Olympic super-G champion Anna Fenninger left a preseason training camp with the Austrian women's team in Cyprus on Wednesday, amid an ongoing dispute with her national ski federation.
The two-time overall World Cup champion traveled back to Austria to train individually, the federation said.
''It's a very smart decision,'' the federation's sport director Hans Pum told national broadcaster ORF. ''She wants to avoid the media and doesn't want to say anything in public. We will talk to her next week and try to clarify the situation.''
Fenninger and the national governing body have been quarreling for months about the skier's personal manager and about Fenninger's wish to have one of the team physicians working exclusively for her.
In an email to officials, Fenninger wrote that she'd rather leave the federation than part ways with her manager, Klaus Kaercher of Germany. Parts of the message were published in Austrian magazine SportWoche on Monday.
Kaercher has been her manager for the past three seasons. A year after winning Olympic gold in Sochi, Fenninger last season became the first female skier to successfully defend an overall World Cup title since Lindsey Vonn in 2010.
''Against this background, I feel the (federation's) desire for a separation is completely inappropriate,'' wrote Fenninger, who later posted on her Facebook page that she ''regretted my mail with confidential information suddenly went public.''
The federation responded it had never asked Fenninger to break up with Kaercher.
''On the contrary, the (federation) has made an offer for cooperation within its regulations,'' it said. ''Unfortunately Anna's management has not accepted this offer, leaving no room for talks about a cooperation.''
Fenninger's wish to have more staff working only for her ''cannot go on the expense of the entire team,'' the federation added.
The 25-year-old Fenninger has won four gold medals and eight in total at Olympics and world championships, and has won 14 World Cup races.
