I understand they want to be aero but is there no regulation for and kind of protective kit under the skin suit?
**** mental the speeds they do with nothing but a bit of lycra between body and ice.

Not sure what you could wear that would protect from the sort of injuries they get. Padding won’t do much and isn’t really needed. Maybe some braces but that would restrict movement

I’ve always wondered why hey don’t have full face helmets.

I’m thinking along the lines of mandatory back protectors in some DH MTB but they don’t seem to be bothered despite the much higher speeds in ski racing

Padding won’t do much and isn’t really needed.

Over 100K and crashing on to ice?

Over 100K and crashing on to ice?

Exactly, they break bones and hurt joints. Pads aren’t going to help. Closest comparison is motorbike racing, but they have a far higher risk of high siding (not that DH racers are immune to that!)

Skin suit is a misnomer, they’re a good bit thicker than lycra and enough to stop burns.

Closest comparison is motorbike racing

I agree but have you seen how much protection is built into race leathers?

Not sure but I think they have some sort of spine protection. Certainly it’s compulsory here in Alberta for most ages and races.

I think they have some sort of airbag set up under their suits haven’t they?

There’s actually a fair bit of padding built in – the suit itself is more like a thick wetsuit so substantially more protection than Lycra.

Yes it is thicker, if it wasn’t they’d freeze!

presumably because there is a lot more sliding involved rather than hard stops (even the catch fencing has give in it) they can get away with not having as much protection.

As above, most of the injuries don’t tend to be the kind of impact injuries that load of armour would prevent, they tend to be twisting caused by the leverage of the ski on joints. Back injuries do happen but I think at least some racers wear back protectors.

It’s odd someone mentions aero for the suits, whilst that is true I can’t help but think some Sky/Ineos style margin gains work on the gloves, helmet and the boots (or boot coverage) would give some results in a sport often won by hundreths of a second.

There are regs for all the kit in the same way as there are regs on bike weight and geometry. Most of it has to be homologated. There’s plenty of marginal gains stuff in skiing but there are efforts to keeep competitors looking like skiers (or snowboarders). When junior was doing ski cross they used to measure the clothes so they had enough cool-looking bagginess.

lunge

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Back injuries do happen but I think at least some racers wear back protectors.

iirc most back injuries are compression, there’s not a protector that’s going to help that

I’ve always wondered why hey don’t have full face helmets.

There’s a perception that in a fall the chin guard can dig into the snow and break the neck

As a recreational skier, there’s 3 types of injuries caused by crashes

1 – into an immovable obstacle – rock or tree

2 – into moving obstacle – another person

3 – from your own equipment e.g. rotational break of the leg caused by ski not releasing.

Only number 3 is going to occur in a closed course DH race (probably) and padding won’t help. Just as mentioned above, Superbikes/MotoGP etc you may be going fast horizontally/parallel to the ground, but only fallen a few feet onto the floor, the rest is sliding.

Superbikes/MotoGP etc you may be going fast horizontally/parallel to the ground, but only fallen a few feet onto the floor, the rest is sliding.

Search for Dani Pedrosa high side on Youtube, plenty of impact injuries in bike racing. Also have you ever been to Cadwell Park 🙂

The have airbags beneath the skin suits that activate in the event of fall.

They tend to slide most stuff out, but you do get plenty of broken limbs…i’ll never forget Chemmy Alcott’s crash, that scream still sends shivers down my spine!

I’ve always wondered if a DH ski racer is wired up right??

Search for Dani Pedrosa high side on Youtube, plenty of impact injuries in bike racing. Also have you ever been to Cadwell Park 🙂

This?

Apart from possibly getting a whack from the bike early on he falls about four feet, then slides on his hands and knees looking distinctly bored with the situation; then gets back on the bike.

How did you embed the video ?

This is not the one I was looking for there is another Pedrosa one that is really bad.

But gives you an idea

I’ll just leave this here, a fine piece of journalism from Michael Johnson, looking at the mindset of Downhill racing and the challenges and consequences

Mailer walked away from that, and I suspect a large part is down to his skis coming off early. The fact that vid is 20 years old says a lot about how rare that kind of crash is too.

I’ll just leave this here for those folk who say it’s not about height, impact etc and all about sliding…

Awww jeez skiists and motorbikists. I think it’s fair to say that closed and purpose built courses remove a lot of the risk and the residual risk is what is accepted by the participants. There will always be exceptions and I don’t doubt that the respective sports administrators and the participants continue to learn.

Maier was 20 years ago and Todd Brooker must be 35 years ago.
Shows the rarity of this type of event really, and Maier walked away and won two Gold medals a few days later in GS and SuperG so it was actually not that bad at all.

Maier walked away and won two Gold medals a few days later in GS and SuperG so it was actually not that bad at all.

He was knocked out wasn’t he? Concussion protocol shouldn’t let anybody do that today.

He was knocked out wasn’t he?

I don’t think so – badly busted knee.

What happened to Silvano Beltrametti was terrible. Went through the netting and broke his back on rocks just off the side of the course.

That’s a good documentary. But basically to race either DH or Bikes (And many other things) to compete at the top you need to be able to switch part of the brain off. Impressive stuff. That Tod Brooker one. Ouch, not nice to watch.