New airbag rule for speed racers at ski World Cup spawns many questions, few answers
Wearable technology designed to go off in crashes, lessening impact, reduce injury
A new rule for certain alpine World Cup ski events has become a major talking point among athletes.
In early November, alpine's governing body (FIS) announced that racers in speed events (downhill and super-G) would be mandated to wear airbags in competition.
The wearable technology, made by the Italian company Dainese, fits like a vest over an athlete's shoulders and upper torso and has been in development since 2013.
It's designed to go off in crashes, lessening impact and improving safety in a sport which has seen major injuries strike the likes of Mikaela Shiffrin, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and Canada's Valerie Grenier in recent years.
But Brodie Seger, a skier from North Vancouver, B.C., who is on the athlete council at Alpine Canada, said he and his teammates are dubious about some the immediate and unintended consequences of the new airbag law.
"What I think doesn't sit entirely well with a lot of my teammates is that there's still a lot of questions that revolve around it and how some things are going to work in practice," Seger said. "So I don't think anybody's … entirely satisfied, shall we say, with the way it's been communicated."
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The Canadians are not alone. Last week, the German publication Blick reported that 40 athletes had already applied for exemptions, which are meant to be limited to people with medical reasons only.
Seger said he's in a WhatsApp group with athletes from each country on the World Cup circuit in which a poll was recently posed with a yes-or-no question: should airbags be mandatory or not?
The results came back nearly even.
"I think the main question that athletes have is whether this is truly an effective way to reduce injury in our sport. I think the majority of the data for these things comes from MotoGP, for example. And obviously they've been collecting data with ski racing over the last number of years," Seger said.
"But already there's been a couple situations to my knowledge where when an athlete had a crash and sustained an injury, there were people pointing fingers at the airbag itself."
Swiss skier Michelle Gisin shared a similar concern with Blick.
"I was never against the airbag, but I am still against making it compulsory because we are not yet at the point where we are better protected in every case of a fall," Gisin said.
FIS secretary general Michel Vion told the publication Powder that the airbag implementation is meant to increase safety.
"The adoption of airbags is part of a broader approach that involves all the factors that can minimize the risk of serious injuries. From the knowledge around weather conditions and track set-up to equipment such as cut-resistant undergarment and smart bindings, we will embrace any measure that is proven to help protect athletes' health and welfare," Vion said.
Further questions sent to FIS from CBC Sports about the airbag policy were not answered.
Athletes seek more data on equipment
Seger said his Canadian teammates want to see more data on whether the airbags are in fact effective at reducing head and neck injuries.
He cited one case he'd heard from an athlete with a broken neck — some said the airbag helped, while others thought the way it blew up may have increased the whiplash and caused the fracture itself.
"From our side, none of the athletes on my team were wearing it before this. … It mainly protects your torso. Obviously a lot of important things in the torso, but is it more protective for neck and head injuries? Seems hard to say," Seger said.
There is also a fear that airbags could accidentally go off in the middle of a race. With a season consisting of eight super-Gs and nine downhills, including World Cup finals, any lost race could prove costly for someone like Seger, who's fighting to qualify for the world championships.
"You have fairly limited opportunities and each one of those is extremely important. It's just frustrating to know that it may be a small chance, but there's always an off chance that your race is ruined for something that is no fault of your own," he said.
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Seger's and fellow speed athletes' World Cup campaigns will begin with a downhill on Friday at 1 p.m. ET and a super-G on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. in Beaver Creek, Colo. Live coverage of both races is available on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.
It will mark the first time Seger has worn an airbag in competition. The 28-year-old said Canadian team members worn it in training, but just as a test of comfort. On that front, the airbag has performed well, with Seger citing just a few literal wrinkles that could hurt skiers' aerodynamics.
But none of the Canadians have turned their airbags on yet.
An extra headache
"We just thought, what's the point? Like if it goes off and then we have to deal with that, it's kind of an extra headache. Whereas we could just preserve it until racing actually starts and not have any additional issues," Seger said.
That potential headache is one of many possible issues Seger and his teammates have spotted or experienced with airbags.
One athlete had difficulty getting the airbag through airport security because there's an air canister contained within.
Seger said he spent about 700 euros ($1,000 CAD) on his airbag, but is unsure where a replacement would come from if it breaks at event. And for younger athletes who may get called up to one or two events during the year, the cost of an airbag is an even bigger hurdle.
Meanwhile, it's unclear how FIS officials will go about enforcing the rule, since checking whether the airbag is on may require removing some equipment off an athlete's back.
Or what about if the airbag accidentally goes off as an athlete bends down to buckle up before a race — will that athlete be allowed to race without an airbag, or is their competition simply over?
Seger and other speed-event skiers seem to be united in their desire to increase safety measures on the World Cup tour.
Airbags have been an option to help in that regard for multiple years. Yet now that they're being mandated by FIS, the enforcement seems hasty with little information available.
"There has been, in my opinion, a pretty big lack of transparency and communication around it," Seger said.
Beaver Creek, then, should provide an interesting first test.
