Skier Marcel Hirscher almost hit by camera drone in World Cup slalom
- From the sectionWinter Sports
Four-time defending overall World Cup champion Marcel Hirscher narrowly avoided being hit by a drone during an Alpine slalom race in Italy on Tuesday.
The Austrian was on his second run when a drone carrying a camera crashed onto the slope centimetres behind him.
“This is horrible,” said Hirscher, 26. “This can never happen again. This can be a serious injury.”
Despite the incident, Hirscher finished in second place, 1.25 seconds behind Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen.
The International Ski Federation (FIS) subsequently announced that it will ban camera drones from its World Cup races.
FIS men’s race director Markus Waldner told The Associated Press that drones will be prohibited “because they are a bad thing for safety”.
The company responsible for the camera drone, sports marketing agency Infront, said in a statement that the circumstances leading to the crash “are currently being examined”.
In a post on his Instagram account following the drone crash, he joked there was “heavy air traffic in Italy”.
Hirscher won slalom silver at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi,
His performance at Madonna di Campiglio on Tuesday helped him reclaim the overall World Cup lead from Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal.
In March, Hirscher became the first skier to win the men’s overall title for a fourth consecutive year.
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