“Don’t know if he’ll ski again”
Career over? Drama about a fallen Alpine ace
Updated on January 4, 2025 – 10:23 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
At the end of last year, Cyprien Sarrazin had a serious fall during training. It is currently uncertain whether he will ever be on the slopes again.
France’s alpine skier Cyprien Sarrazin faces a long rehabilitation after a serious training accident in Bormio. The 30-year-old fell on the notorious Stelvio slope at the end of December and suffered a brain injury.
After his fall, Sarrazin was immediately transported away by helicopter and then taken to a hospital in Sondalo. There, a subdural hematoma, a hemorrhage near the brain, was diagnosed. During the operation that same evening, a hole was drilled into Sarrazin’s skull to drain the blood. Last Saturday the speed specialist woke up from his artificial coma.
According to the French team doctor Stéphane Bulle, Sarrazin is now having difficulties with communication. The athlete also suffers from double vision and his eye reflexes are impaired by the excess pressure in his skull. Bulle explained that basic skills such as sitting, standing or eating can be relearned during rehabilitation. On Friday, Sarrazin was transferred to a neurosurgical hospital in Lyon for those same rehabilitation purposes.
Team doctor Bulle now explained that Sarrazin was exhausted but relieved to be back in France. The athlete “is fully aware of what happened to him.” A magnetic resonance imaging scan had been carried out beforehand, which then confirmed that transport to Lyon was possible without any complications.
It is currently unclear whether Sarrazin will ever be able to compete in the Ski World Cup again. “We’re not talking about knee surgery here, we’re talking about something serious in the brain,” Bulle said. “I don’t know if Cyprien will ski again.” However, he emphasized that everything would be done at the federal level to support Sarrazin on his path. “We will be there to accompany him,” said Bulle.
Sarrazin had already achieved some success in his career, including victories in the downhill races in Bormio and Kitzbühel.