Usually, until December or January, and after a series of falls, twisted knees and torn ACLs, the discussion of World Cup ski safety is not going to become an annual topic.
Not this season.
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After a crash in preseason training in Chile, the death of Italian skier Matteoflanzoso this week raised concerns about how to limit the risks of high-speed sports more than a month before the race begins.
The discussion will also take place less than five months after the Milan Cortina Olympics.
Franzozo, 25, became the third Italian skier to die less than a year later.
19-year-old Matilde Lorenzi died of injuries after a crash last October. Then in March, 18-year-old Marco de Gliumini passed away while testing the course for the children’s race in the area. A month later, Margot Simond, a promising 18-year-old French skier, also passed away from a training crash.
In 2017, French downhill skier David Poisson, a former World Championship medalist and a former World Championship medalist, passed away after a training crash in Canada. He was 35 years old.
“How many tragic losses do we have to go through before we can finally open up a safety debate, especially during training?” Veteran French downhiller Adrien Theaux wrote on Instagram.
He added Mathilde’s older sister and competitive skier Lucresia Lorenzi.
Franzo crashed two-story safety fencing on the La Palva course and was slammed off the course by another type of fence, 6-7 meters (20-23 feet), the Italian Winter Sports Federation said. He was taken to a hospital in Santiago by helicopter, but was unable to survive the skull trauma and as a result of the swelling in his brain. He passed away two days later – one day before what his 26th birthday was.
The La Parva course has been widely used by World Cup skiers for many years. Lindsey Vonn and the US ski team were training there a week before Franzoso’s crash and several other national teams were there this month.
Italian veteran Christophe Innerhofer finished his run just before Franzoso’s crash and asked about the crash. Innerhofer then looked at the crash sight with his own eyes as he returned to his chairlift and looked down at his collapsed teammate.
“Matt, when I saw where you fell, where they were applying emergency assistance, along with you on the other side of the fence, I lost my heart because I was afraid of the seriousness of the situation,” Innerhofer wrote on Instagram.
As 40-year-old Innerhofer was shaking, he abandoned his training camp and flew home to Italy. “These are the toughest days I’ve ever had as an athlete,” he said.
Franzoso’s death sparked debate over whether the Swiss-based International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) should play a greater role in ensuring the safety of preseason training courses in the Southern Hemisphere.
Ushuaia, Argentina and Coronet Peak, New Zealand, are also popular destinations for World Cup skiers in August and September.
The Italian Federation held an emergency meeting on Friday, asking FIS to establish a dedicated training course for national teams.
“The proposal could include two courses in the Southern Hemisphere for summer training and several courses in Europe and North America for fall and winter training,” said the Italian Federation, known as FISI.
Fisi added that training courses require safety nets of A, B and C, similar to those used in World Cup races.
“In the coming weeks, FIS will further strengthen dialogue with stakeholders. It will always have a single principle of instruction. The happiness and safety of athletes must come first,” FIS said Friday.
Starting this season, all World Cup skiers will need to wear protective airbag systems under downhill and super-G race suits. Underwear that is resistant to all events.
Airbags are easily inflated by sophisticated algorithms that skiers can sense when they lose control, but have been an optional safety device for years.
Resistant underwear protects against tear damage caused by ultra sharp ski edges. For example, underwear may have helped prevent severe cuts and nerve damage to the right calf of Norwegian standout Alexander Aamot Kild in the horrifying crash in January 2024.
“Earnings like these bring a sharp focus on deep risk, an inseparable part of our sport,” FIS said. “We cannot rule out the inherent dangers of alpine skiing, but we can reduce the risk by raising listening, raising awareness and promoting dialogue that leads to collective action.”
Franzoso came from the coastal city of Genoa, but had moved to the mountains near Sestriere to pursue a skiing career. His funeral will be held at Sestriere on Tuesday. There, skiing was contested at the 2006 Turin Olympics.
For the Milan Cortina Games in February, men’s skis will be held at Bormio and women’s skis will be held at Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Both the Stelvio course at Bormio and the Olympia Delle Tofane course at Cortina have become the sites of many well-known crashes in recent years. Mikaela Shiffrin attacked the Cortina Nets at high speed in 2024, and French standout Cyprien Sarrazin required surgery to drain a cerebral hemorrhage after being catapulted into the air last season and landed violently at Stelvio.
This season’s World Cup circuit will begin at the end of October on the Rettenbach Glacier in Salden, Austria.
