Czech ski racer Tereza Nova has to be put into an induced coma after a serious fall in the final training run for the women's World Cup downhill in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
25.01.2025, 16:49
25.01.2025, 19:26
SDA
This was announced by the Czech Ski Association on Saturday.
Nova, who is still without a top 30 ranking in the World Cup, suffered a serious head injury in her training crash on Friday. The 26-year-old had to undergo head surgery at a nearby hospital to reduce swelling in her brain.
Due to the numerous injuries in recent weeks and months, a debate about safety has flared up in ski racing. In Garmisch on Saturday, the Austrian Nina Ortlieb also suffered a serious injury (fractured lower leg).
The most prominent crash victims currently suffering from injuries are Mikaela Shiffrin and Petra Vlhova in the women's event and Aleksander Kilde, Cyprien Sarrazin, Marcel Hirscher and Alexis Pinturault in the men's event. In Kitzbühel, where Friday's super-G was overshadowed by a flood of crashes, Vincent Kriechmayr was also missing after his crash in Wengen.
In the Swiss camp, Gino Caviezel (including a complex knee injury), Josua Mettler (including torn cruciate ligaments in both knees), Urs Kryenbühl (knee injury), Jasmine Flury (cartilage damage in her knee), Andrea Ellenberger (including a fractured lower leg), Noémie Kolly (torn cruciate ligament), Jasmina Suter (meniscus injury) and Stephanie Jenal (torn patella tendon in her knee) are currently out due to injury.
Markus Waldner, the FIS men's race director, told ORF on Friday evening: "We have to do something. Three helicopter missions are too much, it's crashing in all corners. We have to create a buffer again."
