The alpine ski world is shocked by the many and serious falls. Two ski stars and a trainer speak plainly.
When Petra Vlhová fell badly during the giant slalom on Saturday in Jasna, Slovakia and had to be flown to the hospital by helicopter, she joined an unpleasant series. In the past few weeks, several ski racers have been seriously injured. For Vlhová, the biggest rival of US star Mikaela Shiffrin, the season is over after a cruciate ligament tear.
The industry is concerned that the falls have increased recently and, in addition to Vlhová, other greats such as the Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and the Frenchman Alexis Pinturault have been affected. Vlhová coach Mauro Pini said: “We have to properly address the problem.”
“It sucks”
Shiffrin also said with tears in her eyes after her turbulent days about her competitor’s elimination: “I’ve thought about her a lot in the last 24 hours. To be honest, this is a big blow for our sport, it’s annoying.” Vlhová was second overall in the World Cup behind Shiffrin. The World Cup record holder said: “I have learned to love the battles with her over the years.”
Vlhová, Kilde and Pinturault are not the only ones who recently fell on the slopes. In Jasna, ORF expert and ex-driver Nicole Hosp suffered a knee injury during a tracking shot. On Wednesday during downhill training in Kitzbühel, Barnabas Szollos, who was competing for Israel, was hit. He hit his head and lost his helmet. Szollos suffered multiple facial fractures and a concussion.
The Swiss Rémi Cuche was taken to hospital by helicopter after a fall. The diagnosis: cruciate ligament tear. Marco Schwarz was hit in Bormio at the beginning of January. Recently there was a lot of criticism of Fis President Johan Eliasch due to the falls. The German Alpine boss Wolfgang Maier sees the “real problem” in Eliasch and his interference in squad planning and the program. The strain is too high, the amount of racing is simply too much.
“Never again”
This season it was not possible to compete in the men’s race due to the weather conditions in Beaver Creek (USA) and at Eliasch’s prestigious project in Zermatt/Cervinia (Switzerland). The races were then rescheduled and took place on other race weekends to the already scheduled program. One of the Beaver Creek downhill races was rescheduled in Wengen.
However, this caused a lot of stress for the athletes. In Wengen, three speed races were held in addition to two training sessions within five days. Marco Odermatt then said: “I hope this is the last time, never again.”
According to Maier, “an attractive sport would be seriously damaged. This has to come to an end because people can’t stand it anymore.” Race director Markus Waldner already emphasized that a situation like the one in Wengen would not happen again. Eliasch, on the other hand, simply said that athletes could skip races if the strain was too high for them.