Compulsory airbags make the ski scene furious

Alpine skiers plunge down the slopes at great risk; falls and serious injuries are part of the game. The world federation is therefore introducing a requirement to wear airbags. But many people do not agree with this. On the contrary, most of them don't think much of it.

Ski racer Broderick Thompson stumbles at high speed, falls, is catapulted into the air and hits the hard piste from a height of several meters. Rescuers fly the Canadian to hospital, where doctors briefly put him into an induced coma. Austrian head coach Marko Pfeifer, an eyewitness, says the accident was "one of the worst I've ever seen". Almost a month has passed since Thompson's training crash in Beaver Creek at the end of November, and the athlete is feeling better again. He was not wearing an airbag on the day of the accident.

This will no longer be the case next year. For the 2024/25 season, the FIS world federation is introducing the mandatory wearing of a special airbag under the ski suit for women and men in super-G and downhill. In response to an inquiry, a FIS spokesperson said that airbags have "proven to be a valuable measure to increase the safety of athletes in speed races". Men's race director Markus Waldner said that Thompson's fall would have been less serious with an airbag.

So is everyone happy about the FIS safety regulations from the coming season? Not at all! Uncertainty and incomprehension about the world federation's decision prevail among many skiers and coaches. Many find the special vest with the inflatable air chambers impractical in the race. Some doubt that the airbag really protects them. Some fear that the high-tech equipment may even pose more of a danger.

"Typical Fis nonsense"

"This is typical FIS nonsense!", Wolfgang Maier, Sports Director of the German Ski Association (DSV), complained recently and spoke of "actionism". Similar to the sudden ban on fluorine waxes, which has caused great uncertainty in the World Cup since this winter, the airbag obligation could end in chaos.

One person who knows a thing or two about the subject is Karl-Heinz Waibel, the national coach for science and technology at the DSV. Until recently, he was part of a FIS expert group in which he discussed the airbag together with other officials and ex-athletes such as Pernilla Wiberg and Marco Büchel. The group spoke out against mandatory airbags. "You don't need an airbag for serious back injuries, the back protector has been doing a good job since the 1990s," explained Waibel. In his opinion, the airbag could perhaps protect against bruising. "But no ski racer complains about upper body bruises."

He is not fundamentally against the airbag, Waibel emphasized. However, research and development are much more important when it comes to preventing serious knee injuries, the biggest concern in skiing. Waibel called the airbag a "minor matter". The FIS ignored the experts' assessment - and recently disbanded the group quietly and secretly.

Dreßen dislocated both shoulders

So is the airbag almost useless? Or even more seriously: is it even dangerous? In recent years, some athletes - such as Austria's Olympic champion Matthias Mayer and the German downhill skier Manuel Schmid - have suffered serious spinal injuries in falls in which the airbag was triggered. According to dpa information, the manufacturers deny responsibility for such injuries in official letters to the FIS.

But mistrust grew. German veteran Romed Baumann, for example, skied with an airbag for seven years, but after his teammate Schmid was injured in the summer of 2021, he put it aside again. "I no longer had a good feeling," said Baumann. In the German men's alpine team, only the youngsters Luis Vogt and Jacob as well as Thomas Dreßen still use the airbag - although it can be assumed that the former Kitzbühel winner Dreßen dislocated both shoulders in a race crash at the beginning of 2020 due to the force of the airbag inflating at lightning speed.

Even top stars such as Norway's Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and Dominik Paris from South Tyrol will not be wearing airbags when they compete in the downhill on Thursday and the super-G on Friday (both at 11.30 am) in Bormio on one of the iciest, most difficult and most dangerous slopes on the World Cup calendar.

But everyone will have to come to terms with the new season. The concerns and, in some cases, legal questions that nations such as Germany, Austria and Switzerland have submitted to the FIS will hardly change this, according to dpa information. For example, who is liable if athletes - against their will - wear an airbag in a race and it malfunctions? What happens if an airbag deploys incorrectly and an athlete falls as a result? The FIS has reportedly not provided any satisfactory answers to these questions.

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Alpine skiers often engage in intense debates about the introduction of airbags in Winter sports, such as downhill and super-G races. For instance, German Ski Association (DSV) Sports Director Wolfgang Maier criticized the FIS's decision as "typical FIS nonsense."

Many alpine skiing enthusiasts question the necessity and effectiveness of airbags during high-speed competitions. They express concerns about the potential impracticality of the inflatable air chambers and the possibility that the high-tech equipment may pose more of a danger.

Source: www.ntv.de