Swiss bobsled athlete Sandro Michel is recovering from emergency surgery, his team said Wednesday after a training crash that has some sliders considering whether it's safe or appropriate to compete in World Cup races this weekend. Michel was in a four-man sled piloted by Michael Vogt when it crashed Tuesday during training for this weekend's World Cup races in Altenberg. Michel is the brakeman, meaning he is the person in the back of the sled.
He was tossed from his seat in the crash and was on the ice when the sled—after it came to a stop—starting sliding back down the icy chute. The International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation said Michel was "run over by the bobsleigh which was uncontrollably sliding back from the finish area." Michel lost consciousness in the crash and was airlifted from the track to a hospital about 75 miles away in Dresden because of the severity of his injuries. The BBC reports he had surgery on his hip and thigh area and suffered chest injuries as well. It is not known how fast the sled was going when it crashed, though other sleds hit speeds of about 80 mph on Tuesday.
The crash left athletes from many countries shaken, and plans were being put together for a meeting on Friday to discuss safety concerns—including why there were no mechanisms in place to try and stop the sled when it began sliding back toward Michel. As for Michel's teammates, the Swiss team said Vogt "suffered a severe concussion and bruises" and push athletes Dominik Hufschmid and Andreas Haas also had slight injuries. Vogt and Michel are an experienced team who placed fourth at the 2022 Beijing Olympics in two-man bob and took bronze at the world championships last year, reports the AP.
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Training was to continue as planned for the rest of the week and the IBSF said racing would take place this weekend as planned. "If this was one of my teammates I certainly would not want to be competing in a World Cup like everything is normal," British bobsledder Greg Cackett wrote on social media. "I think the race should be canceled, our friends in the Swiss team should be allowed time to come to terms with what's happened, IBSF and global tracks should communicate what they're going to do about this and we can all refocus on world champs," which start later this month in Winterberg, Germany.
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