Reichelt to attempt Garmisch despite Kitzbuehel crash

Austria's Hannes Reichelt hopes to take part in this weekend's World Cup downhill in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, just a week after injuring his knee in a horror crash in Kitzbuehel.

The 35-year-old suffered bruising and a compression of his left knee in a crash in last Saturday's downhill race on Kitzbuehel's Hahnenkamm course.

Both Georg Streiberger (Austria) and Aksel Lund Svindal (Norway) had their season's ended by serious knee injuries suffered in exactly the same spot as Reichelt.

All three crashed out at the Hausberg Kompression turn, within view of an estimated 50,000 spectators packed into Kitzbuehel where collective gasps of shock could be heard.

The downhill course in the Tyrolean resort is widely recognised as the toughest on the World Cup circuit, with racers reaching motorway-coasting speeds in excess of 130km/h wearing only a skin-tight catsuit, back support and helmet.

Both Streiberger and Reichelt, the 2014 winner, had to be evacuated by helicopter off the mountain.

Originally hot favourite to win the race Svindal was at first able to walk away, but later underwent surgery.

After taking part in Thursday's first training in the Bavarian Alps, Reichelt will decide whether he is fit to take part in Friday's second practice, then Saturday's race down Garmisch's Kandahar course.

Reichelt, who is tenth in the World Cup standings behind leader Marcel Hirscher of Austria, put his crash in Kitzbuehel down to poor visibility.

"I couldn't see anything," the 2015 Super-G world champion said on Wednesday.

"I came up to the Kompression (where the accident happened) much faster than expected," he said.

Reichelt also criticised the race organisers for not stopping the race immediately after his fall.

He fell just before Svindal's crash left the Norwegian with ruptured knee ligaments, which will keep him out for at least nine months.

The race was eventually stopped after 30 skiers had gone down, but Reichelt said it should have happened sooner.

"After seeing two of the top racers thrown off the course, they let another ten go down, but on the other hand they denied the rest of the skiers the chance to start," said the Austrian.
Source :AFP