Next serious ski fall
Rescue helicopter transports Olympic champion
February 5, 2024, 4:26 p.m
Once again a top star of the ski scene is getting off the skis. In the morning, the Italian Goggia was taken to the hospital by helicopter after a serious fall. The diagnosis is shocking. The Olympic champion is the next victim of a real epidemic season.
The seemingly endless list of serious injuries in the Alpine skiing circus never ends. The Italian Olympic champion Sofia Goggia will also have to end her season early. The 31-year-old Italian was taken to hospital in Milan after a serious training fall with suspected broken tibia and fibula. During the course of the day, the Italian ski association Fisi confirmed the worst fears: the 31-year-old had broken her tibia and tibial ankle in the accident on a slope in Ponte di Legno in the north of the country, it was said. Goggia had to undergo surgery in a hospital in Milan that afternoon. Her right leg hit a gate on a right-hand bend.
The accident occurred in the morning on the Casola nera slope in Ponte di Legno in the province of Brescia, where Goggia has often prepared for races. The Speed Queen was then transported away by rescue helicopter. The four-time winner of the Downhill World Cup is leading the overall ranking in the queen discipline again this winter. She won one of the five races so far and was on the podium three more times. The next departures are on the 16th/17th. February planned in Crans Montana, Switzerland.
Kilde blames stress for injuries
Goggia’s expected failure would be the next in a true plague season for skiing. Ski queen Mikaela Shiffrin is currently taking a break after a serious fall in Cortina d’Ampezzo. The season of Olympic champions Petra Vlhova and Corinne Suter ended prematurely after torn cruciate ligaments.
The men also suffered some prominent injuries. Shiffrin’s friend, the former overall World Cup winner Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, had to cut short his season with serious injuries, as did the highly decorated Alexis Pinturault and Marco Schwarz.
Last week, Kilde blamed the high number of injuries around the events surrounding the races. “It’s not sustainable, we have evening commitments everywhere. That means stress for the athletes, especially for the top ten,” he said. “We have to look at the race calendar and we athletes have to be heard. You don’t want to lose anyone because of injuries.”