After the death of the Italian ski racer Matteo Franzoso, the safety debate in alpine skiing has flared up again. Superstar Mikaela Shiffrin now sounded the alarm.
“In the end, it remains a sport in which you ski down an icy slope at up to 130 km/h. And you only do it with razors on your feet and spandex on your body,” Shiffrin is quoted by “Eurosport”.
The American therefore demanded: “We are still at the beginning of figuring out what we can do in terms of safety. Speed control, airbags, helmets – I would be happy if we continued to improve this over the next few years.”
Formula 1 could serve as a model. “Even with the extreme forces involved in motorsports, the car is so designed for the safety of the driver that you can only get away with a few injuries,” noted Shiffrin.
Matteo Franzoso had a serious fall during training in La Parva, Chile, in September and hit his head against a fence. After two days in an induced coma, he died at the age of 25.
The FIS then announced that safety should be increased through discussions and risk assessment. It is also said that they are following the latest state of the art in innovations such as airbags and electronic release bindings as well as helmet technology.
Neureuther demands consequences
Italian skiing was already shaken in October 2024 by the death of 19-year-old Matilde Lorenzi in a training accident.
Felix Neureuther had also already demanded consequences. Skiing is “an extremely dangerous sport,” the 41-year-old told “SID” at the Powwow Festival in Düsseldorf, but “you have to sit down at the table, the athletes with the associations, with the FIS and think about how we can make training safer in the future – for the athletes.”