Odermatt is really looking forward to it, Paris and Kilde are among the opponents: the airbag divides the downhill circus

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Twelve months ago in Val Gardena, Broderick Thompson was still looking to the future with great confidence: after numerous serious injuries, the Canadian was in the top 16 for the second time in his downhill career.

But now the British Columbia daredevil is plagued by serious concerns. After the terrible training fall in Beaver Creek two weeks ago, it is very questionable whether the 29-year-old will ever be able to return to the ski circuit. Thompson’s life is no longer in danger. But he broke several vertebrae in addition to his shoulder blade. FIS race director Markus Waldner is convinced Thompson would have suffered less serious injuries if he had been wearing an airbag.

The prominent opponents

The ‘Canadien Cowboy’ is not the only one who has been rejecting the Dainese back airbag for years. Thomspon’s teammate James Crawford (26, Super-G world champion), Norwegian super moose Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (31) and Italian downhill bull Dominik Paris (34) are among the most prominent opponents. “I deployed the airbag once and it felt like my movements were too restricted,” explains three-time Hahnenkamm triumphant Paris.

Olympic champion Beat Feuz also never wore an airbag until his last competition in Kitzbühel. “I was very skeptical about this system because of the fall of my Austrian friend Matthias Mayer in Val Gardena in 2015,” says the Emmentaler resident. “Mayer broke two thoracic vertebrae even though he was wearing the airbag. And for me there is still no evidence that this design really protects against injuries.”

His friend Stella encouraged Odermatt to think

The decision makers at the International Ski Federation (FIS) see things differently and therefore want to introduce mandatory airbags next season.

This is no problem for Marco Odermatt (26). The two-time World Cup winner has been riding it for three years. “That goes back to my girlfriend,” Odermatt reveals. “The airbag was not a problem for me for a long time, until one evening Stella asked me if I was using one. When I answered no, she asked, why not? That got me thinking. And I came to the conclusion that this airbag could really help me.”

Niels Hintermann (28) from Zurich also relies on the airbag. He also initially had some reservations about this design, but now he can no longer imagine a descent without this part. «I feel more comfortable in the racing squat with an airbag than in the years without an airbag. I feel like this completes my position better.”

Knauss’s special idea

Austria’s number 1 ski expert Hans Knauss (52, Kitzbühel winner in 1999) sees the airbag requirement as a huge opportunity to slow down speed sports. “The sport of downhill has been developing in a much too rapid direction for years, which is why we are still registering more serious injuries. If in the future all athletes wear the airbag from the same supplier, we can work with the racing suit manufacturers to agree on a product that does not reject the air, but absorbs it, thus reducing speed by five kilometers per hour. That would contribute a lot to greater safety for the athletes.”

Will downhill skiers in the future actually be slowed down by a special construction on their back? Follow-up to follow.

Source : Blick