“There is no room for maneuver anymore”: now the FIS race director makes it clear

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The violent crashes of the current World Cup season leave no one unmoved. This winter, 28 ski stars have already been seriously injured (click here for the Blick Protocol of Horror).

There are many criticisms and points for improvement circulating in the Alpine camp. A word has weight. It is that of FIS race director Markus Waldner. The South Tyrol is clear on SportNews.bz. The most important excerpts from the interview with the South Tyrolean medium.

“Of course my heart bleeds,” says Waldner. But he also puts things into perspective: “It is not the first year that it has been this bad. The difference this year is that many world-class athletes were involved. That’s why it attracts more attention and the outrage is greater. But as stupid as it sounds: we are average. The whole story is very complex. Every autumn has its own history.”

Swiss alpine director Hans Flatscher also responded to Blick in this direction: “Every fall is one too many, but you cannot lump all cases together, they are too different.” For example, in the case of Kilde’s serious fall during the Lauberhorn descent on January 13, it should be noted that the Norwegian collapsed in the longest race on the calendar due to ill health.

Waldner warns: “The material has long since caught up with the driver. In order to be faster in this risky sport, the material is increasingly exploited. It is no longer just the skis that are dangerous. It is the combination of bindings, binding plate, ski boots and skis that is fatal. The service people, the industry, the developers and inventors – everything is subordinate to an even higher cornering speed. There is absolutely no room for driving errors anymore. Then the whole package explodes. The bindings are also so tight that they hardly come loose. With fatal consequences for the athletes.”

A frequently heard criticism is: 45 races per gender per season is too much of a good thing. Waldner himself is also dissatisfied and criticizes three points: that the season for alpine skiers is almost over in mid-February (only for men Kvitfjell and the season finale in Saalbach), that insufficient account has been taken of the travel routes and that people are going back to the abroad for technical races. And the big stress with postponed races – especially Wengen in January. He says: “I am against adding catch-up races. They have no marketing value whatsoever. We shouldn’t do that anymore in the future, it overloads the sport. I don’t think it’s good to be there too often.”

But in addition to the much applause for the consequences he draws after the many falls, Waldner also has to hear a lot of criticism. Austrian downhill boss Sepp Brunner (65) is the strongest accuser: “After the two descents in Chamonix had to be canceled due to a lack of snow, all athletes can enjoy some rest this week. Therefore, we could easily hold a third race in Kvitfjell the following week, in addition to the originally planned downhill and the Super-G. But unfortunately Waldner is now becoming stubborn.”

Kilde suffered scary cuts during his fall at the Lauberhorn and said in the Eurosport interview: “I didn’t wear cut-resistant underwear in Wengen – that was the last time. It could have cost me my life.”

Waldner also wants to raise awareness here: “Some athletes use the underwear and airbags, others don’t. It would be high time to provide clarity, that is, to make it mandatory. (…) A top driver once told me that he would forego every safety detail if it meant being a few tenths of a second faster. In MotoGP or Formula 1, decisions are made from above. The individual pilots are not asked whether something suits them or not. The best ski racer in the world – Marco Odermatt – has always skied with an airbag. I have never heard him complain that he feels limited by this in any way.” (str)

Source : Blick