The three-time Olympic ski jump champion Thomas Morgenstern was rushed to hospital earlier today after falling down a 100m jump in Kulm, Austria, during training for a World Cup event.
Morgenstern, 27, lost control of his skis mid air, which sent him off balance with nowhere to go but down. The Austrian ski-jumping star then hit the slope with such force that his skis came right off and he was briefly knocked unconscious.
Thankfully, Morgenstern quickly regained conscious after falling down the slope like a rag-doll and he was responding to medical staff at the scene, according to Austrian team physician, Herbert Leitner.
“Fortunately he was responsive, Thomas can move arms and legs. That’s very important,” said Leitner. “He asked me what happened.”
“We can only hope for the best,” said the Austrian head coach Alexander Pointner. “This really hurts because we are all very close. Thomas is the heart of this team.”
Earlier today we featured a GoPro video of the Norwegian ski jumper and Olympic bronze medallist, Anders Jacobsen, jumping down a slope in Lillehammer, Norway. In the piece we said “you need balls of steel to be a ski jumper” and we think the video of Morgenstern’s crash proves why…
