The debate about safety in alpine ski racing has gained momentum. Now the Hahnenkamm Race is coming up in Kitzbühel – the race that gained its legend through spectacular falls.
The entire World Cup winter has been debated – sometimes excitedly – about safety in Alpine ski racing. Many falls and serious injuries, especially among top stars such as Vinzenz Kriechmayr and Cyprien Sarrazin or previously Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, have fueled the discussion.
Spectacle vs danger – a fine line
Airbag requirement yes or no? Ban on the so-called carbon “socks” – special socks that make it possible to drive even tighter radii. Avoiding or at least reducing spectacular but dangerous jumps. Stricter requirements for the waist of skis or the selection of racing suits – a lot has changed. On the one hand.
On the other hand, the infamous Hahnenkamm race on the Streif in Kitzbühel is coming up this weekend – a race that is defined by its spectacle and that is precisely why it attracts the crowds and also gained its legend through spectacular and momentous crashes.
The Streif has no mercy – Rescue helicopter in continuous use
So the Streif. Terrifying. As famous as it is infamous. Scene of the most terrible falls. And after the rough Stelvio in Bormio and the strenuous Lauberhorn descent in Wengen, the third traditional and spectacular route on which adversity threatens. “The Streif,” says former racer Aksel Lund Svindal, Olympic champion, multiple world champion and three-time Super-G winner in “Kitz,” “is merciless. It’s about sheer survival.”
The Norwegian tore a cruciate ligament in 2016 in a real orgy of falls on the Streif, as did the Austrian Hannes Reichelt, winner in 2014. The rescue helicopter was in constant use. This time he had to climb up twice during training on Wednesday and get injured people off the mountain. Among others, 26-year-old Jacob Schramm from Upper Franconia: fall, concussion, broken knee.
World elite thinned out – big names are already missing
Two more injured, this time rather nameless, but the world elite is also increasingly thinned out. Aleksander Aamodt Kilde from Norway has been out for a year. In Bormio, the Frenchman Cyprien Sarrazin fell badly. In Wengen, his teammate Blaise Giezendaner suffered a torn cruciate ligament. Vincent Kriechmayr, Austria’s double world champion in 2021, got off lightly there but will not be there this weekend either.
Sports show expert Neureuther calls for consequences
“Something definitely has to happen for next season, we need our stars, we need our faces”demands sports show expert Felix Neureuther. The downhill skiers alone have already counted two dozen injuries since the start of the season.
“It’s not five to twelve, it’s five past twelve”said FIS race director Markus Waldner in Wengen. The material is “extremely exhausted, perhaps we have already exceeded the limit”he thinks and emphasized: “Something really has to happen, in the short and long term. We have to turn every screw a little.”
“Beyond Good and Evil”
The latest craze are so-called carbon “sockets”. “They are like socks made of solid material that prevent even the slightest movement of the foot in the ski boot”explains the Austrian former world champion Hannes Trinkl, Waldner’s right-hand man at the FIS. Top drivers could use it “drive incredible lines, but with a setup like that you’re actually moving beyond good and evil.”
The German Alpine boss Wolfgang Maier demanded in Wengen that the athletes’ mistakes should be taken into account “excusable” but that is currently not the case. And, he said: “It’s not one part alone, it’s several parts that work together to achieve what we currently have: an extremely dangerous sport.”
“Round table” planned during the World Cup in Saalbach
However: “There have to be rules”demands Neureuther. The problem: There will only be a round table on the sidelines of the World Cup in Saalbach-Hinterglemm (February 4th to 16th), and another at the World Cup finals in March in Sun Valley.
This kind of thing comes too late for Kitzbühel. On the Streif, secured from top to bottom with kilometers of nets and tarpaulins, danger lurks almost everywhere: mousetraps, steep slopes, local mountain edges, traverses. When he was supposed to go down there for the first time last year, he… “the pants are full” German young hopeful Luis Vogt admitted, but the route still works “Fun”. In contrast to his colleague Jacob Schramm, Vogt has always reached the bottom safely.