World Cup Skiing Searches for Answers to Its Injury Problem

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland — Elisabeth Reisinger of Austria fought to carve her skis around a sweeping, right-footed turn coming off a jump on the Mont Lachaux downhill course. Jolted by a compression in the snow, she was tossed backward and lost control. She crashed hard, sliding headfirst into two panels of safety netting lining the racecourse. Sitting up, she screamed, waving for help.

Reisinger, 23, was attended to by an on-course doctor who arrived about 60 seconds after the crash. She was airlifted off the mountain and treated at a nearby hospital for a bruised tibia and an anterior cruciate ligament tear.

The knee injury, which occurred last month and ended her season, was another in an alarming series of them on the World Cup ski tour this season. It is an issue the sport is looking to confront, even as it waits to see if the remainder of this season — which was scheduled to end with the World Cup finals in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, later this month — will be canceled in reaction to the coronavirus outbreak.

“This is, unfortunately, the standard injury that we have in our sport,” Peter Gerdol, the World Cup women’s race director, said of knee injuries like Reisinger’s. “I always have a bad feeling when this happens, but it’s something, unfortunately, we cannot avoid. It’s part of the sport.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/02/sports/skiing/world-cup-injuries.html