Austrian Skier loses leg after crash.

[wa-loaf]

http://www.stern.de/sport-motor/sportwelt/:Horror-Sturz-Ski-Weltcup-Die-Tragik/613007.html

The article is in German (I can't find an English version), but the gist is he crashed in the recent Super G in Norway. He had a compound fracture where his foot twisted multiple times! :-o After 9+ hours of operations and a medically induced coma they couldn't restore the circulation to his foot.

The Austrians are pissed off because there was no emergency helicopter available and he had to be taken down by sled and then flown to the hospital in a tourist helicopter!

 

[skibum9995]

I saw the crash while watching the race. It was pretty insane.

english article
http://www.skiracing.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6297&Itemid=2

video of the crash
http://web.wcsn.com/media/player/mp_tpl.jsp?w=mms%3A//a1272.v22145.g.vm.akamaistream.net/7/1272/22145/v0001/wcsn.download.akamai.com/22145/2008/open/highlights/archive03/030208_fis_m_sg_lanzinger_bad_crash2_350.wmv&type=v_free&id=34221&w_id=34221&_mp=1

 

[wa-loaf]

Ouch, I thought he broke it when he first hit the gate, but it actually breaks when he flips over and his left ski hits tail first. The ski pops off and you can see his leg spinning around.

 

[roark]

That's terrible.

 

[ajl50]

what a terrible injury.
Jesus.
That made me so sick to my stomach.
I feel terrible for the kid. He lost his leg. That is so insane.

 

[ssudha17]

I dont know why I watch these videos even though the images stick to my head for the next few days and gives me a terrible feel every time it goes through my head.

 

[Sky]

re: Sick to stomach....Right!

1) Sad. Condolences!

2) Once @ speed, and once in slow-mo. That was enough for me. I shut it off as it started to go in slow-mo a second time. Thanks, no.

 

[davidhowland14]

I wonder if it is possible to develop some kind of electronic release system where when things start to go horribly wrong the skier can be remotely released from the bindings.

That's an interesting idea. I doubt it would hav helped this poor dude though. The leg kept spinning after the ski released. :sad::sad:

 

[wa-loaf]

Did hitting the gate break his leg first?

No, read my second post.

 

[davidhowland14]

I'm not sure about that. It's hard to tell from the vid, and I certinaly don't want to watch it again. It would ahve been hard to react quickly enough to save him from injury, but it might have save'd the leg to be able to remotely jettison the ski. Also would ahve helped bode a cople times./

 

[crank]

There's a brief article here: http://www.skiracing.com/

There's some talk that it took too long to get him the best medical care.

 

[drjeff]

If both skis had released at the same time maybe would have lessen the injury? An electronic monitoring system where if one ski is released the other is immediately jettison also ...

Problem is that in real time at real speed, it's less than a second between when he's "in control" at 55ish mph and suddenly he's crashed and tumbling out of control. Could someone be expected to push a button in such a short reaction time, especially if it was being done by a coach considering that in many speed events there isn't great video coverage of the entire course??

The cold hard truth is that at elite ski racing levels the line beteen fast and crashed is so small and the risks at the speeds their traveling at and the difficulty of the courses (both in terrain and snow hardness) so high that danger will always exist. Also, you could show an elite racer this video over and over and over and you might get 0.1% of those racers to lower the DIN settings on their bindings.