Ski ace killed by colleague
“This shouldn’t happen”
October 17, 2025 – 9:43 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
Last month, ski racer Matteo Franzoso died. The death of the 25-year-old leaves its mark on experienced specialists.
Austria’s speed specialist Daniel Hemetsberger wants to attack again this season after injuries, but also admits with reference to Franzoso in an interview with the Austrian portal “Heute”: “That shouldn’t happen. The athlete has left the slope, he is not allowed to go there during training or the race. The problem is: after accidents it is often loud for a short time, then nothing happens.”
He therefore calls on his colleagues: “We athletes have to work together now.” He also admits that the focus in training is not always the same as in the race itself: “I’m often too naïve during training runs. There are corners where you know that if you go out there, it won’t work out.”
Athletes like Hemetsberger also know the slope in Chile where Franzoso died. He analyzes with reference to the high speed there: “There is a ditch in the lower part of the route, if you shoot into it at 120 km/h, it’s done. You have a maximum of ten meters everywhere, then there will be no groomed slope anymore. I don’t want to blame anyone. I just want to show that it can be done better.”
Franzoso misjudged a relatively small jump in September and went off the slope as a result. He broke through two safety nets and crashed into a fence. The result was a traumatic brain injury and an artificial coma. But the measures didn’t help and Franzoso died.