Alpine Canada Alpin is set to host a Ski Racing Safety Summit in April with the aim of reducing injuries in the sport of ski racing, president Max Gartner announced Monday.
The Canadian Alpine Ski Team has been hit with a number of serious injuries to leading athletes in recent weeks. On Saturday, Manuel Osborne-Paradis suffered a broken leg and torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee when he crashed during a World Cup downhill race in Chamonix, France.
Gartner plans to host the summit in Calgary, bringing together leaders from Canada’s ski community, sports science experts and members of the international ski racing community.
“We are very concerned about the number of injuries we are seeing in ski racing,” said Gartner. “It’s not only a Canadian problem – it seems to hit every team in waves.
“We are not going to be able to eliminate all risk but we want to make sure we are responsible and make this sport as safe as possible.”
The aim of the summit is to examine domestic programs, from the grassroots up, and focus on preventative action that could be taken to reduce the risk of skiers sustaining injuries.
“The goal is to identify solid recommendations that can be implemented immediately,” said Gartner. “It’s important to get the balance right between being an exciting sport and minimizing the risk of injury.”
Although the summit will look primarily at domestic programs, guests from the international ski racing community will also be invited to take part.
“The injuries we’ve seen in World Cup competition have been significant and they need to be reduced,” said Gartner. “We have to make sure we are at the table with FIS (the International Ski Federation) to reduce injuries at that level and make sure there’s some urgency to their plans to examine safety in ski racing.”
Canadian Alpine Ski Team racer Robbie Dixon, who is currently recovering from a concussion suffered at a World Cup race in December, applauded Gartner for taking the lead on the safety issue.
“I think it’s great that Max is instigating this,” said Dixon, of Whistler, B.C. “Ski racing has always been a high-risk sport. Most guys who get into it know that and accept it but we do anything we can to minimize risk.
“In certain areas, technology has progressed but not everything has moved at the same pace. We want to keep the excitement of the sport but it’s important to get the right people together to discuss this. Sometimes, that’s all it takes to get everyone on the same page.”
