World ski chief working to 'minimise and mitigate' racing dangers

The France men's team would have been top of any alpine skiing pundit's list to be among the leaders of the medals table at the World Ski Championships in Saalbach.

But things changed, as they often do in elite ski racing, in the bat of two eyelids, crashes ruling out speedster Cyprien Sarrazin and all-rounder Alexis Pinturault.

Sarrazin took a dreadful tumble in training in December in Bormio, where men will race at next year's Winter Olympics.

He underwent surgery for a bleed on the brain, and was immediately ruled out for the season.

There was similar heart-breaking news for Pinturault, who broke a leg in last month's Kitzbuehel super-G.

"This is not a new thing," Johan Eliasch, president of the International Ski Federation (FIS), told AFP in Paris of crashes.

"Some years we have more accidents than others."

Eliasch is in the race to replace Thomas Bach as president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), but has a vested interest in ski race safety as a former chief executive at US-Austrian sports equipment manufacturer Head.

"What is clear is that with the introduction of new technologies, with greater cooperation with the industry and more focus in this area, we can definitely make big improvements," Eliasch said.

"Coming from the industry, and having been very involved in research and development over the years because that's my favourite area, we are pushing this at a speed which has not been seen before, together with the athletes."

Innovations include the introduction of airbags, not universally liked by all athletes.

"There is plenty more we can do here," Eliasch said. "For instance, not only for the torso, but also for the head, neck and knees."

Other ideas include helmets that can withstand multiple impacts, race suits made of cut-proof material and electronic release bindings, so that the ski comes off and doesn't become an "obstacle" that can catch in netting, something that often leads to more trauma.

"This is something that I personally take great interest in, it's very important to me because the athletes need to feel safe," said the 62-year-old Anglo-Swede.

"The world gets to see people skiing at 100mph (161kmh)," he said. "It's really our job here to make sure that we mitigate and minimise the risk when they're out there."

Course setting was also a factor, Eliasch added, expressing confidence that something could be done in the coming seasons.

"The terrain is something which is part of the race," he acknowledged.

"If you don't have jumps and you don't have compressions, it's not going to really be a race anymore.

"But we can pick and choose where these obstacles are so that they're very easy to see."