Swiss Bobsled Athlete Has Surgery After Being Thrown To Ice And Hit By Sled In Training Crash

ALTENBERG, Germany: Swiss bobsled athlete Sandro Michel is recovering from emergency surgical procedure, his group mentioned Wednesday, after a coaching crash that has some sliders contemplating whether or not it’s secure or acceptable to compete in World Cup races this weekend.

Michel was in a four-man sled piloted by Michael Vogt when it crashed Tuesday throughout coaching for this weekend’s World Cup races in Altenberg. Michel is the brakeman, which means he’s the individual at the back of the sled.

He was tossed from his seat within the crash and was on the ice when the sled — after it got here to a cease — beginning sliding again down the icy chute. The International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation mentioned Michel was “run over by the bobsleigh which was uncontrollably sliding back from the finish area.”

Michel misplaced consciousness within the crash and was airlifted from the monitor to a hospital about 75 miles (120 kilometers) away in Dresden due to the severity of accidents he suffered to his leg, hip, thigh and chest, group and IBSF officers mentioned.

It isn’t identified how briskly the sled was going when it crashed. Some sleds throughout coaching periods on Tuesday have been reaching speeds of about 80 mph (129 kph).

The crash left athletes from many nations shaken and plans have been being put collectively for a gathering on Friday to debate security considerations — together with why there have been no mechanisms in place to try to cease the sled when it started sliding again towards Michel. Training was to proceed as deliberate for the remainder of the week and the IBSF mentioned racing would happen this weekend as deliberate.

“If this was one of my teammates I certainly would not want to be competing in a World Cup like everything is normal,” British bobsledder Greg Cackett wrote on social media. “I think the race should be canceled, our friends in the Swiss team should be allowed time to come to terms with what’s happened, IBSF and global tracks should communicate what they’re going to do about this and we can all refocus on world champs.”

Bobsled and skeleton’s world championships begin later this month in Winterberg, Germany. This weekend’s Altenberg races are the final World Cup occasions previous to the world championships; there’s one final World Cup weekend coming in mid-March to Lake Placid, New York.

The Swiss group mentioned Vogt “suffered a severe concussion and bruises” and push athletes Dominik Hufschmid and Andreas Haas additionally had slight accidents.

“Swiss Sliding is deeply saddened by this accident and wishes Sandro Michel, Michael Vogt, Dominik Hufschmid, and Andreas Haas a speedy and full recovery,” the group mentioned in an announcement.

“The federation has left it up to the other Swiss teams in Altenberg to decide whether they want to participate in today’s remaining training sessions and the races over the weekend.”

Safety has been a significant speaking level in sliding sports activities for years, significantly after some high-profile incidents such because the luge dying of Georgia’s Nodar Kumaritashvili in a coaching run hours earlier than the opening ceremony of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, Canadian bobsledder Chris Spring crashing into the roof of the Altenberg monitor and struggling extreme puncture wounds in 2012, and a 2021 incident the place Polish luger Mateusz Sochowicz was critically injured when he crashed right into a steel gate that was inexplicably blocking the monitor throughout a coaching run in China.

Vogt and Michel are an skilled group who positioned fourth on the 2022 Beijing Olympics in two-man bob and took bronze on the world championships final yr.

The pair gained a World Cup race in December and are third within the season-long standings. Vogt’s four-man bob crew is fourth in that self-discipline’s World Cup standings.

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Winter Olympics information: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics and AP sports activities: https://apnews.com/sports

(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is printed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)