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Mikaela Shiffrin, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, Petra Vlhová, Alexis Pinturault, Corinne Suter.
Extreme crashes throughout races over the previous few weeks have concerned 5 former World Cup general ski champions or Olympic gold medalists.
They usually’re not the one ones.
Marco Schwarz, a former world champion who was main the general standings, didn’t even make it to January. In late December, he injured his knee on the darkish and bumpy Bormio downhill.
The ski circuit is hurting in a season and not using a Winter Olympics or a world championships.
Why? Many skiers blame an overloaded schedule in January following the cancellation of many races in the beginning of the season.
The Worldwide Ski Federation (FIS) scheduled two downhills for the boys at Val Gardena / Gröden, Italy; Wengen, Switzerland; Kitzbühel, Austria; and in Cortina for the ladies. Add a number of coaching periods at every venue, and the high-speed, on-the-edge of their skill goes on nearly all week.
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“If the strongest skiers are taking place, it’s obtained to make you surprise,” main downhiller Sofia Goggia mentioned.
Throughout Friday’s downhill in Cortina on the course designated for the 2026 Olympics, Shiffrin, who holds the report for 95 World Cup wins, crashed into the security internet at excessive pace. She averted a extreme leg harm and wrote on Instagram she was grateful it wasn’t worse. It’s unclear when Shiffrin will return.
Suter pulled up halfway on her run, clutching her left knee. She tore her ACL, broken her meniscus and is out for the season. Rescuers airlifted Shiffrin and Suter off the mountain.
The weekend earlier than, Vlhová’s season ended after tearing ligaments in her proper knee in a large slalom in entrance of her house followers in Slovakia. That got here after Pinturault and Kilde had season-ending crashes at Wengen.
“Races, journey, coaching periods, strain, stress,” mentioned Federica Brignone, one other former general champion who crashed on Friday — though with out getting damage. “It’s time to replicate on the overloaded schedule.”
There have been extra crashes on Saturday in Cortina, the place American racer Bella Wright sustained bruises and a lower on her chin.
“It damage, however I knew straight away my legs have been OK,” Wright mentioned. “They’re bruised and so they’re undoubtedly going to be an increasing number of sore as time goes on. I used to be additionally spitting up blood and I wasn’t certain what that was from. After which they instructed me I’ve a laceration on my chin.”
Sturdy winds brought on racing to be suspended a number of instances for lengthy intervals.
Czech skier and snowboarder Ester Ledecka was the primary racer on the course and she or he pulled up shortly into her run after dropping management.
Germany’s Kira Weidle and Switzerland’s Joana Haehlen additionally fell, with Haehlen being carried away from the end space along with her whole leg bandaged. She tore her proper ACL.
Ania Monica Caill of Romania went cartwheeling into the security nets, resulting in the eventual stoppage of the race with two skiers nonetheless to begin.
Intestine-Berhami
“Speaking solely in regards to the variety of races is pointless,” mentioned Lara Intestine-Behrami, the Olympic super-G champion and a former general winner. “There’s a ton of causes that have an effect on efficiency. True, the schedule could be very full, nevertheless it’s been that method for years. Even when there are not any races, all of the athletes go practice.
“There’s extra stress due to every thing else surrounding the game,” Intestine-Behrami added. “Whereas earlier than it was solely about snowboarding, now an athlete has to multitask and fear about curating their picture and advertising and marketing themselves. However the days nonetheless final 24 hours.”
FIS introduced the cancellation of two upcoming downhills scheduled for Chamonix, France, as a result of poor snow situations, giving the boys a break.
CUT-PROOF UNDERWEAR
Contemplating the latest crashes, some skiers recommend that cut-proof underwear ought to turn out to be necessary in additional races.
Reduce-proof underwear, already necessary in parallel occasions, might stop racers from being injured by their super-sharp ski edges throughout crashes. However downhillers don’t put on it as a result of it slows them down.
“This must be a protected enchancment for all of us,” Goggia mentioned. “It must be necessary.”
Kilde needed to have pressing surgical procedure to restore a extreme lower and nerve injury in his proper calf, plus two torn ligaments in his proper shoulder.
Reduce-proof underwear, crafted from resilient polyethylene substances claimed to be stronger than metal or Kevlar on a per-weight foundation, may need prevented Kilde’s harm. Simply as inflatable airbags that skiers put on underneath their racing fits can present safety.
“It’s a no brainer,” U.S. girls’s coach Paul Kristofic mentioned. “However there’s at all times those who push towards this stuff for numerous causes. There wasn’t unanimous help for the airbag both.”
