Cyprien Sarrazin was able to leave the intensive care unit before Christmas after his serious fall in Bormio. It is unclear how long he will be out.
French ski star Cyprien Sarrazin is apparently still on the mend after his violent fall during downhill training in Bormio. But he will be out for an indefinite period of time. The French association said the 30-year-old’s health was stable. Sarrazin has now left the intensive care unit.
Return to France
The plan is for him to return to France on Friday and receive further treatment in the neurosurgical department of a hospital there. A long recovery and rehabilitation phase is now beginning, it was said. It is currently unclear how long the speed specialist will be out. The highlight of the Alpine season is the World Ski Championships in Saalbach in February.
Sarrazin was lifted by a wave in the lower section of the notorious “Stelvio” piste, hit the hard piste from a height of around three meters and flew into the safety net. He had to be transported away in a rescue helicopter and operated on for a cerebral hemorrhage.
Spectators hold a banner saying “Forza Cyprien”
Sarrazin’s fall triggered Security debate out of
Sarrazin’s fall and further failures sparked a lot of criticism of the preparation of the slope. The Stelvio is considered one of the most difficult routes in the World Cup: There is a “fight for survival” there, said superstar Marco Odermatt from Switzerland. Sarrazin’s teammate Nils Allegre was particularly upset: “They don’t know how to prepare a track. They’ve been preparing tracks for 40 years, but they don’t know anything – except how to make them dangerous.”
Markus Waldner, race director of the FIS association, did not want to let the criticism stand as it was: it was “not entirely justified”he said. He knows “no one who can prepare a 3.5 kilometer route evenly”. Especially since a lot of wind in the lower part of the Stelvio “dried out” the snow over Christmas. Because it was icy in the upper passages, this made it difficult to coordinate the material. “This is an outdoor sport, this is not a dream concert, even if it sounds harsh”said Waldner and complained that many teams behaved unreasonably. “There is no more room for maneuver. When you push yourself to the limit, things like what happened on Friday happen.”