Is it worth the show?

Discussions after Vonn’s crash

On Wednesday, 6^th of February, the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2013 in Schladming started with the Super-G (female). The race was supposed to start at 11 am local time but was postponed 13 times and therefore delayed by 3.5 hours. The fog hanging over the course made it impossible to guarantee a fair race for all participants. At 2.30 pm “the visibility was great, there were no problems, and the course was also in good shape”, stated Atle Skaardal, FIS women's race director. At 3.15pm it was Lindsey Vonn’s turn and she did great in the first bit of the course. After a jump Vonn landed on an icy part of the course, lost balance, flipped in the air and smashed a gate. A helicopter brought her into the Schladming hospital, where the diagnosis was: anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament tear as well as a tibial plateau fracture. 

Immediately after the crash officials were stating that one of the reasons for the crash was bad visibility and a lack of concentration because of a 3.5 hours delay. Wolfgang Maier, German race director stated that he would not have started the race. “It took too long and a fair race was not possible.”  Swiss Fabienne Suter, who finished fifth, said "It's not a very difficult course but in some parts you couldn't see anything." On the other hand Skaardal defended his decision in starting the race: “I don't see that any outside factors played a role in [Vonn’s] accident.” The Austrian press says that the major reason for starting and continuing the race after another interruption was, that the organisers did not want to lose TV presence but deliver the promised show and create superlatives. 

Have you seen the race? Do you think it was fair?

Tanja Voegtlin