Swiss alpine skier Daniel Albrecht crashed during training in Kitzbühel in Austria, and was seriously injured. Daniel Albrecht lost his consciousness and was taken to St. Johan hospital by helicopter. Although he regained consciousness for a short period doctors decided to keep him in artificial coma. According to the doctors Daniel Albrecht suffered some sort of head injury.
Albrecht lost control Thursday after flying through the air for over 40 yards, landed on his back and came to a stop near the finish line. His velocity right before the crash was 140 km/h (87 mph). He actually crashed in the same legendary Streif downhill course as Scott Macartney last year, which forced Macartney quit his season. Organizers lowered the final jump of the course after Macartney’s crash and clearly marked the natural wave so racers would be able to better time their jump.
25 years old Daniel Albrecht has been pretty successful and is currently holding 8. position in Alpine World Cup. He is the present world champion in combined. Albrecht won his first World Cup race in late 2007, a super-combined held in Beaver Creek, USA, followed by a giant slalom in the same location a few days later. It is possible that he cannot continue the cup anymore, but we will probably hear more news during the next couple of days.
7 Responses
Daaaaamn!
That’s hard! Although skiing is not my favourite sport at all, I seriously wish him to get better soon
Yeah, we too. That was a very serious crash as it can be seen in the video. Really scary.
OMG! It was a very strong fall!
Nice…..so uh since he appears to have crossed the finish line, does his time count?
he’s gunna need a new pair of skis …this looks like major butt hurt lol
Problem is NOT with the PARTICULAR wave, it is with the GENERAL problem of controlling a long jump. Obviously none in the ski circles has clearly identified that problem yet.
Too sad to see these beautiful healthy young guys suddenly stopped by such tragedies, that will look naive in a century – like when we watch now those 1-century old aviation accidents
Versailles, Thu 22 Jan 2009 23:08:00 +0100
Michel, you’re right. Although we love the sport, it’s really sad to see these things happen, even though these guys know exactly the risks they take.
Well it is well known that that last bump has to be taken on the left or the right, and taking it in the middle is VERY dangerous.
As the video shows, Albrecht is clearly in teh middle, unfortunately.
Our prayers go out to him and his family.Let’s hope he recovers fully