Formula 1 as a role model?
Horror accident sparks safety debate in bobsleigh
February 20, 2024, 4:52 p.m
The four-man bobsleighs, which weigh over 500 kilograms, race through the ice track at speeds of up to 150 km/h – and there is a serious accident during training in Altenberg. Before the World Cup, the security debate flares up again. A first small solution has already been found.
Days later, national coach Rene Spies and the entire German bobsleigh team were still in shock. “One packs it a little better than the other,” said Spies after the World Cup week in Altenberg, which began with the dramatic accident of the Swiss foursome around pilot Michael Vogt during training: “We have athletes who already have children at home You can tell that it’s really keeping her busy and taking her away.”
The safety issue is coming into focus not only among athletes a few days before the World Cup in Winterberg. “What we need are safety discussions like in Formula 1,” demanded Stephan Pieper, who as managing director of the Winterberger Eisarena is responsible for the organization and therefore also for safety at the World Cup, in an interview with the “Westfalenpost”: “We After all, it’s a high-speed sport.”
The bobsleighs race down the ice track at speeds of up to 150 km/h. A foursome weighs at least 210 kilograms when it is not occupied. If there are still people sitting in the sleigh, it weighs over 500 kilos. Vogt’s pusher Sandro Michel in Altenberg was run over by exactly such a colossus, which slid back from the finish line, after he had previously been thrown out. The 27-year-old sustained serious injuries to his hip area and chest, was operated on twice and was at one point in danger of losing his life. Pilot Vogt had to cancel the World Cup race and also the World Cup two-man race at the weekend.
Catch hooks are intended to reduce the danger
The Altenberg railway boss Jens Morgenstern emphasized that the “safety of the athletes is not an Altenberg issue, but a global issue”. Pieper jumped to his side and instead took responsibility for the international association IBSF, which decides on the type of track preparation. He initiated an investigation into the circumstances of the accident. It is currently unclear whether further measures will be taken in the future.
In Winterberg, helpers equipped with catch hooks next to the ice track are supposed to prevent the bobsleighs from slipping back. Such precautions already exist in Sigulda, Latvia, and Whistler, Canada. “That was planned anyway and we prefer that now,” said Pieper, but they “don’t fall into activism.”
Meanwhile, Spies is “excited to see how this will be resolved.” Because of the tension and adrenaline, the national coach doesn’t think that Altenberg’s dramatic experiences will be on people’s minds at the World Cup races, “but of course, it concerns some of us off the track.”