Skiing safety in the spotlight at Winter Olympics after ‘tragic accidents’

Two Italian skiers have passed away in the past 15 months following training crashes

Matteo Franzoso passed away last year after a training crash (Getty)

The tragic deaths of Italian Alpine skiers Matteo Franzoso and Matilde Lorenzi within a year have cast a stark light on the sport’s safety protocols, prompting an urgent review ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Both athletes succumbed to injuries sustained during training crashes, leading the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) to declare that all options are on the table in their drive to enhance safety, both on and off World Cup race days.

"We had a couple of tragic accidents. The one of Franzoso... brought up new questions," Urs Lehmann, appointed FIS CEO last year, told Reuters in December. "That was the moment when we questioned the whole system."

The safety debate is particularly acute given the upcoming Milano Cortina Games, where the men's races will challenge the notorious Stelvio course in Bormio, a track where downhillers can reach speeds of 150 kph.

Regarded as one of the circuit's most demanding, it was the scene of a December 2023 crash that sidelined Austrian world champion Marco Schwarz for a year.

Under the leadership of Swiss Lehmann, a 1993 downhill world champion, the FIS has initiated a comprehensive safety overhaul.

Marco Schwarz was sidelined for a year after a heavy crash (AP)

This began with a survey of its approximately 140 member federations to identify gaps in their existing structures.

"We want to see: do you have a dedicated person in charge for safety? Do you have a module in your coach education programme dedicated to safety?... Then share best practice and set standards," Lehmann explained.

One immediate change Lehmann aims to implement is the expansion of World Cup rules on airbag use to a wider array of training sessions.

The FIS had already mandated airbags for speed World Cup events and official training sessions from the 2024-25 season.

However, initial exemptions were granted to some athletes, including Italian downhiller Dominik Paris, who claimed the body-worn device restricted his movement, and Olympic Super-G champion Lara Gut-Behrami, who also criticised the technology.

"Airbag has been mandatory in competition but not in training," Lehmann stated. "We say: airbag has to be worn also in training... no exceptions."

More than 90 per cent of airbags utilised in World Cup races are supplied by Italian manufacturer Dainese, which commenced a ski-specific project in 2011.

The ski airbag system employs sensors, honed by years of data from runs and GPS technology, to monitor an athlete's motion and deploy only during genuine crashes.

Despite being hailed as the most significant safety innovation in the sport over the past two decades, the airbag's adoption in skiing was protracted due to technical hurdles, cost implications, and resistance from some skiers.

Dainese's Racing Director Marco Pastore acknowledged a few early misfires but affirmed that deployment rates are now extremely low and, crucially, far less hazardous than unintended binding releases.

A 2015 crash involving Olympic champion Matthias Mayer marked an early high-profile instance where an airbag inflated during a race. Mayer sustained two broken vertebrae, but a subsequent investigation, according to Dainese, indicated the injuries would have been more severe without the airbag.

More recently, Olympic giant slalom champion Marco Odermatt's airbag deployed during an extreme save on a 2024 Bormio run, yet the Swiss skier finished unharmed in fifth place.

Former champions contend that the greatest risks in the sport often occur away from televised race days.

Marco Odermatt’s airbag was deployed during a race in 2024 (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Retired Italian downhiller Kristian Ghedina told Reuters that training sites – particularly in summer on glaciers or in South America – frequently rely on ad-hoc fencing erected merely the day before.

"In World Cup you have nets right and left; in training protections are precarious," he said.

The former Cortina and Kitzbuehel winner has urged that skiers train on sanctioned hills – akin to the U.S. Ski Speed Centre in Copper Mountain – and called for the creation of more run-off areas and soft barriers where terrain narrows.

Three-time Olympic champion Deborah Compagnoni echoed Ghedina's concerns.

"What's missing today are protections during training," she said, highlighting that hills sometimes feature too many parallel training sets on narrow pistes with insufficient escape room.

Compagnoni advocates for moderating speeds by adjusting gate settings and re-evaluating the ultra-hard snow preparation that has become standard as natural snowfall declines. "Something on materials and on course setting can be reviewed," Compagnoni told Reuters.

Adolfo Lorenzi now heads a foundation established in honour of his daughter Matilde, who died at 19 in 2024 following a crash during a training run in South Tyrol.

Deborah Compagnoni (left) wants more safety measures in place at training sites (AP)

He believes safety has lagged behind rapidly evolving equipment, and his foundation promotes practical training for coaches while advocating for higher safety standards at training camps.

"There's a cost – but there's no cost tied to a human life," he told Reuters.

Beyond airbags, Lehmann anticipates that smart bindings, which use algorithms for earlier ski release and could be available to skiers within three to four years, will significantly reduce the knee and tibia injuries prevalent in the sport.

The FIS is also exploring thicker race suits that would slow skiers and modifications to boot design, although Lehmann conceded that teams invest heavily in developing faster gear and would be reluctant to sacrifice speed.

Academia is also contributing, with a team from Turin's Polytechnic University employing drones to map pistes and simulate racing lines to generate risk assessments.

This system, according to professor Tania Cerquitelli, could help determine a hill's suitability for a given session.

Even with improved equipment and modelling, experts stress that course management remains paramount.

Ghedina, who helped pioneer the back protector in the 1990s and supports airbags, advocates for more nets, air-fences, and wider fall zones.

"You can't make a sport of speed totally safe... but you can do much more on training pistes," he concluded.