Skiing: Duvillard on the mend

The French skier Adrien Duvillard, injured in a training run crash, improved yesterday. Didier Bonvin, head coach of the French ski team, said doctors in Bern told him Duvillard is now breathing without assistance.

Duvillard had to be airlifted to two hospitals on Friday after crashing into a security fence during the downhill trials at Wengen, the Swiss Alpine resort. The 27-year-old hit the fence at over 55 miles an hour and suffered a serious head trauma, a punctured lung and broken ribs.

Duvillard lost control coming off the last jump of the Lauberhorn course and skidded across the finish area. A medical team worked for 30 minutes to stabilise his condition before airlifting him to the hospital in Interlaken. He was then taken to the main hospital in Bern.

Duvillard crashed in the same place where the Austrian skier Gernot Reinstadler died six years ago.