Former World Cup winner Andre Schurrle, who made the shock decision to retire before the age of 30, has trekked up a mountain half-naked.
Schurrle scored three goals to help Germany win the 2014 World Cup, before lifting the Premier League with Chelsea the following year. Now, the former attacker is in retirement and keeping himself fit in a very strange way.
The 32-year-old announced his shock decision to retire back in 2020, ripping up his contract with Borussia Dortmund. Despite no longer being involved in professional sport, Schurrle is still seeking to maintain his fitness levels, though not in a way many would expect.
The German posted several pictures and a video on his Instagram account of himself trekking up a mountain half-naked in freezing conditions. In the images, Schurrle is wearing boots, shorts, mittens and a hat, but no shirt or coat.
The trail the former Chelsea star walked up is snowy and covered with ice, with Schurrle revealed the temperature reached -19 degrees. The trek is part of a challenge designed by motivational speaker and extreme athlete Wim Hof.
And it is a challenge that Schurrle has relished, though he admitted the trek was one of the hardest things he has ever done.
"Day 3 of the @iceman_hof experience and up the summit with our beautiful crew!! The hardest mental and physical thing I ever did! The last minutes i couldn’t feel anything and i had to find something deep inside me to keep going!" Schurrle wrote on Instagram.
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"An experience that I will never forget! -19 degrees, 100 km/h wind in our faces, heavy snow and rain! What I learned…My body and I are stronger than I thoughm if I put my mind and soul to it I can do everything."
Schurrle's remarkable trek left his former team-mates astonished, with Didier Drogba insisting he was proud of the German. In reply to Schurrle's post, he wrote: "Fashion week @andreschuerrle proud of you my man my body would have stopped functioning straight away."
Schurrle's incredible feat of fitness comes just under three years since he announced his retirement from the game. At the time, he was only 29 and ended his career having made more than 370 club appearances and 57 international caps.
Despite having forged a successful career for Germany, Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund and Wolfsburg, the former attacker admitted he had lost his love for the game.
"I want to let you know that I’m stepping away from playing professional football!! On behalf of myself and my family I want to thank everybody who was a part of these phenomenal years!" Schurrle wrote on Instagram.
"The support and love you shared with me was unbelievable and more I could have ever asked for! Now I’m ready and open for all the beautiful possibilities that are coming towards me."
