Ski star in a coma
Massive criticism after horror fall: “It’s a fight for survival”
12/28/2024 – 10:47 amReading time: 2 minutes
After his serious fall in Bormio, skier Cyprien Sarrazin underwent successful head surgery. But he is still in an artificial coma.
The somewhat reassuring news came on Saturday morning. Cyprien Sarrazin, the French ski association FFS announced shortly, was operated on “at night” after his serious fall during the final training for the World Cup downhill on the notorious Stelvio slope in Bormio, Italy. The urgently needed operation on the head “went well”. But he is still in an artificial coma.
Sarrazin, who broke into the world elite last year with four victories, including on the Streif in Kitzbühel, suffered an intracranial hematoma when he fell on Friday afternoon. This bleeding between two meninges was drained in an Italian hospital. The 30-year-old was transported by helicopter and, according to the association, admitted to a “neurological intensive care unit”.
Shortly after Sarrazin’s accident on the “Wall of San Pietro”, where the Italian Pietro Zazzi later suffered a broken tibia and fibula in a fall, criticism of the organizers had become loud. 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.”
Allegre even went so far as to deny the organizers’ suitability to host the Olympics. “Maybe not everyone agrees with my opinion,” he said, “but they don’t deserve it.” Bormio will be the venue for the alpine men’s competitions in February 2026, with all races scheduled to take place on the Stelvio. Traditionally, a downhill and a Super-G take place there at the end of the year in the World Cup.
The Stelvio is considered one of the most difficult routes in the World Cup. In addition to the strenuous length of 3.44 kilometers, the constantly changing visibility and piste conditions are also extremely challenging. The Swiss overall World Cup winner Marco Odermatt, who came second behind Sarrazin in the Bormio downhill last year, said of a trip on the Stelvio: “It’s a fight for survival.”
Markus Waldner, race director of the International Ski and Snowboard Association Fis, did not want to leave the criticism alone: it was “not entirely justified,” said the South Tyrolean and explained that there were strong winds in the days before the first training run on the Stelvio on Thursday contributed to the sections of the route in question being “dried out” – meaning: the snow there is more grippy, more aggressive.
“This is an outdoor sport, this is not a dream concert, even if it sounds harsh,” said Waldner, emphasizing that teams and athletes have to adapt, including to changing conditions: “We all have to adapt to the situations and try to use the material accordingly to vote.” He also knows “no one who can prepare a 3.5-kilometer route evenly.”