Katharina Huber landed in the snow after a few meters. © Eurosport IT/Social Media

Nightmare start: Strange fall before the first gate

An unusual incident occurred at the Giant Slalom World Cup in Semmering: For Austrian Katharina Huber, the race was already over before the first gate.

28 December 2024

From: do

Alpine skiing is a sport that thrives on exhilarating speeds, spectacular athletic feats and technical finesse – and on the brave skiers who throw themselves down icy slopes every day. The dark side of the sport is the numerous injuries, such as the terrible falls of Cyprien Sarrazin and Pietro Zazzi in Bormio. But the fall on the snow does not always end with bruises or broken bones, sometimes the result is "only" a slightly bruised ego.

A race always begins in the start house. The athletes throw themselves onto the slopes with great motivation. That things can go wrong was already shown by Julian Lizeroux in 2015 in Méribel and Fritz Strobl in 2005 in Val Gardena, both of whom landed in the snow immediately after the start. This is exactly the same mishap that happened to Katharina Huber on Saturday at the giant slalom in Semmering.

The Austrian, wearing number 49, plunged into the slope at the Zauberberg and immediately slipped with her poles. The 29-year-old corrected this first mistake and stayed on her skis. On the way to the first gate, however, Huber crossed her skis during further attempts to push and landed on her stomach on the snow.

The home World Cup in Semmering was over for the Austrian before the first gate. Fortunately, Huber was not injured in the strange fall.