Marc Gisin airlifted to hospital after horrific downhill crash

Swiss skier Marc Gisin was hospitalized Saturday and is in "stable enough" condition to return to Switzerland for more tests following a nasty crash in a World Cup downhill.

The 30-year-old Gisin lost control before a jump midway down the Saslong course on Saturday, flew into the air at a reported 120 km/h and landed awkwardly on his side and back. He was then bumped into the air again and the back of his head hit the snow in a second impact.

Marc Gisin involved in horrible crash. Watch below:

Scary: Swiss skier airlifted to hospital after horrific crash in Italy

6 years ago

Duration 2:21

Gisin was hospitalized Saturday and is in "stable enough" condition to return to Switzerland for more tests following a nasty crash in a World Cup downhill.

A rescue helicopter landed on the snow and took off for the hospital in nearby Bolzano with Gisin onboard after he had received treatment for almost 30 minutes.

"His condition is stable enough that he can be flown back to Switzerland tonight for further diagnoses," a statement from the Swiss ski team said. "The exact diagnoses of his injuries we expect Sunday afternoon."

Gisin's sisters are both highly successful skiers.

Norway's Kilde tops field

Dominique Gisin won gold in downhill at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, and Michelle Gisin won combined at the Pyeongchang Games in February.

I am so stoked and very excited to see what I can do in the future.— Canada's Ben Thomsen on his 10th-place finish in Saturday's downhill

Aleksander Aamodt Kilde of Norway won Saturday's race, a significant 0.86 seconds ahead of Austria's Max Franz, who led the final training run.

Beat Feuz of Switzerland came third, 0.92 behind.

Canada's Ben Thomsen posted his seventh career top-10 result at a World Cup downhill, finishing a personal-best 10th on the Val Gardena track in one minute 57.44 seconds.

"I am so stoked and very excited to see what I can do in the future," he told Alpine Canada near the finish area. "My season has been very good so far [and] I'm thrilled."

The native of Invermere, B.C., was 15th at a recent downhill at Lake Louise, Alta. Thomsen's career-best finish in the event occurred in February 2012 when he was second in Sochi, Russia.

While some racers speculated that Kilde profited from favourable winds during his run, Kilde attributed the victory to his flawless skiing.

"I didn't have any mistakes. I came into the finish with a one-second lead and I think that speaks for itself a little bit," he said. "There's probably things that could have been better for the other guys. When you have a 100 per cent run like this, there's not many of them in your career."