But the FIS doesn't give a damn
Exhausted ski stars call for help: “It’s too much”
Falls, screams, helicopter flights, long breaks – and there is no end in sight: the outcry of the athletes in the Ski World Cup is unmistakable – but the FIS is turning a deaf ear. No serious changes to the calendar are planned – on the contrary.
Mikaela Shiffrin is strolling along the beach at her “rehab camp” singing on a wall when she suddenly loses her footing. “Woah,” the ski queen exclaims, a little shocked, “I almost fell.” Shiffrin stays on his feet – unlike last time on the slopes. Falls and no end: The many accidents and serious injuries continue to keep the ski circus in suspense, and the athletes' cry for help is unmistakable.
“It’s really too much,” Shiffrin wrote about the immense stress online, where she posted her beach video. The three-time Olympic champion Maria Höfl-Riesch complained about the “crazy travel” in the BR. The result: exhausted athletes who can no longer withstand the forces of their dangerous sport.
Like Sofia Goggia recently. The speed queen fell during training on Monday and suffered a fractured tibia and fibula. The Italian is the next high-profile fall victim in a sport that eats its children. The Swiss Blick has already counted 28 people injured this winter, including numerous top stars. The number of outages was “staggering,” Shiffrin wrote.
Numerous stars are out for a long time
Her boyfriend, the former overall World Cup winner Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, is still in a wheelchair for weeks after his horror fall in Wengen. Her rival, the Olympic champion Petra Vlhova: torn cruciate ligament. Like downhill Olympic champion Corinne Suter. Like former world champion Marco Schwarz, like combined champion Alexis Pinturault. Nina Ortlieb, second in the World Championships in the downhill, broke her leg like Goggia.
“I absolutely believe fatigue plays a role in the many injuries at this point in the season,” Shiffrin said, “including mine.” She got off lightly in her accident in the chaos race in Cortina d'Ampezzo, where the Olympics will take place in 2026. Because of her damaged knee, she currently has to take a break – a rare break from the stress of racing and traveling. Sometimes it gets so out of hand that she hardly gets to eat, she wrote. Especially the top stars who are successful in several disciplines would hardly have any time for relaxation.
But the world association FIS turns a deaf ear. No serious changes to the calendar are planned – on the contrary. The highly controversial downhill runs in Zermatt, a pet project of the unpopular FIS President Johan Eliasch, are contractually guaranteed until at least 2026/27 – if they can ever be held. On Eliasch's initiative, the men are setting off to race in the USA for the second time this season in February – crazy, also for environmental reasons. It remains to be seen whether Shiffrin will be able to intervene again this winter. “My knee,” she said, “can't take the strain yet.”
