Despite new rules at the Ski World Cup, the debate about safety does not calm down and also touches on fundamental social questions.
It is astonishing that ski racer Nina Ortlieb can even remember all of her injuries. Because there really are a lot of them. “I had two very serious knee injuries, two to the lower leg, several shoulder injuries, fractures to the upper arm, pubic bone, shoulder blade, ribs…”she rattles off.
“You will accept anything for your dream”
Ortlieb is a top Austrian athlete. At the 2023 World Cup she took second place in the downhill, she won the world championship twice as a junior and a World Cup race just as often as an adult. The fact that she broke her tibia and fibula in each of the last two years could have meant the end of her career. “It was pain I could never have imagined”says Ortlieb.
Nevertheless, the 29-year-old never thought about quitting sport. She has also overcome the most recent disruptions. At the weekend she celebrated her comeback in the World Cup in St. Moritz. “You can’t get the feeling that sport gives you anywhere else. You put up with it all for your dream.”
Deaths in training
Ortlieb isn’t the only one who accepts the risk as part of her journey. This shows the immense number of serious injuries among ski professionals. In St. Moritz, the Swiss Michelle Gisin fell badly during downhill training. Some even pay for their sport with their lives: the Italian died in September Matteo Franzoso after a training accident. In the spring and the year before, two young drivers had fatal accidents – also during training.
Each time there were calls to increase safety measures in skiing. Not least due to public pressure, the international ski association FIS introduced new rules for the new World Cup season. These include wearing an airbag in the speed disciplines and banning carbon shin insoles after serious injuries occurred in connection with these splints.
Demand for cordoned off Training routes
Nina Ortlieb welcomes the measures taken by the FIS. But with regard to safety in training, more needs to be done, she says. The training slopes differ greatly from the competition slopes in terms of speed, which means that adequate competition preparation is hardly possible. “Currently we often train on public slopes before the lifts open, around six to nine in the morning.” In just a few hours there isn’t enough time to bring the safety conditions up to competition level.
Franzoso also had an accident on such a slope in the Chilean ski resort La Parva. The FIS has also recognized that safety in training needs to be increased. FIS President Johan Eliasch told the APA press agency in October that the FIS wanted to launch a training program for local coaches and draft stricter measures for associations. The FIS left an inquiry from Sportschau about what steps it had taken so far in this regard unanswered at the time of going to press.
Like other professionals, Ortlieb demands training routes that are only used by professionals. The head of technology at the German Ski Association, Karlheinz Waibel, would like this for the speed range. But that is hardly possible, at least in Europe, because speed routes have to be extremely long, he says. But there are only a few areas in Europe that even offer this requirement, says Waibel. The slopes with the corresponding length are mostly the valley runs: “And which ski area would close its valley run to tourists? That would be a huge location disadvantage that no operator can afford.”
The demand for training routes outside Europe, for example in South America, is correspondingly high, says Waibel. But the use costs the association a lot of money, Waibel cites the example of a usage fee of around $500 including overnight accommodation per day and athlete on the training slope in the Chilean ski resort Portillo. The slope where Franzoso died is nearby.
Must do that speed be reduced?
Another way to make your job safer would be to have a lower average speed in the speed range, says Nina Ortlieb. Athletes would then have more leeway, she says. “For example, the jumps could be shortened so that we land less hard.” Even three to five kilometers per hour would make a difference.
The Austrian Nina Ortlieb at the World Cup in St. Moritz
However, Karlheinz Waibel doesn’t believe in reducing the speed, which could be achieved through the material of the suits or skis, for example. That is against the nature of racing. If rules were introduced that reduced speed, a cycle would start as soon as they were introduced: “We as a system, i.e. trainers, manufacturers, athletes, technicians, immediately think about how we can become faster again within the framework of these regulatory restrictions.”
In the past, measures that were intended to reduce speed often led to the risk of injury increasing elsewhere. An example of this is the introduction of “ever more turning courses”, i.e. tighter curves on the descent. As a result, the material was adapted to help the athletes win. “We want to win the race. That’s what it’s all about, that’s why there are prizes, medals, prize money, fame and honor.” Skiing must therefore admit that regulating speed is not a viable option.
“Athletes try to push the limit”
Instead, he would like to achieve a continuous improvement in safety conditions, which Waibel also supports, through risk analyzes and constant documentation and improvement of the piste conditions. The measures should be well thought out and sustainable. He considers the debates following headlines about individual injuries to be populist.
At the same time, Waibel emphasizes that racing can never be completely safe, because the essence of racing is to push yourself to the limit. “Wherever athletes do that and try to push these limits upwards, they reach limits that are not healthy.” It would be a matter of mastering this and learning adequate risk management.
Of course, Nina Ortlieb knows this too. Feeling the potential to achieve more and more is what drives her from within. “If I had the feeling that 30th place was the highest I would ever achieve, then I wouldn’t have the same passion.” She is motivated by the knowledge that she can reach the top and become the best in her sport. Trainers often slowed her down rather than exposing her to great risks.
Ortlieb believes that this is precisely why associations have a responsibility to make the framework conditions as safe as possible and to continue to look for ways to reduce the average speed. And although there have been many positive developments in recent years, the safety of the athletes is still not the top priority, believes Ortlieb. This is not just due to their ambition: “Ultimately, we are being sold with the competition as a product. Of course, the organizers and the media are trying to make everything as spectacular as possible.”
Skiing is safer than before
The sports sociologist Otmar Weiß from the University of Vienna also believes that the safety of athletes in skiing must be given even greater priority than before. Nevertheless, he also praises the developments of the last few decades. “Although the sport has become faster, there are fewer serious accidents and deaths compared to before.” Despite the increased risks, sport has become safer.
The importance of the safety of athletes in sport is ultimately also a reflection of social values. Looking at the developments described over the last few decades, they have developed towards a more humane, less violent value system. However, Weiß emphasizes: As in other areas of society, such a process can also be reversed. “You can’t pay enough attention and invest enough to ensure that the sport remains safe and also develops even further towards safety than before.”