From Altenberg, GER
(February 14, 2024) – Altenberg has been known for years as one of the more difficult tracks on the IBSF and FIL circuits, with more than its share of tricky curves that has resulted in more than its share of accidents over the years.
On Tuesday, a scary accident took out one of the top bobsled teams in the world likely for the remainder of the season.
In their first run of training, Michael Vogt and his team had a session-quickest run going before they crashed hard, causing brakeman Sandro Michel to fall out of the back of the sled. With nobody on the brakes, and with the sled not caught by track workers, the sled slid back down uncontrolled and struck Michel.
Reports from those at the track suggest that Michel was likely unconscious prior to being struck.
Per a statement from Swiss Sliding, after receiving medical attention from the on-site track medical team Michel was airlifted to University Hospital CGC where he underwent surgery to his hip and thigh areas, with reports from the track speculating that it was a broken femur and pelvis. Today he will undergo further examinations to the further extent of injuries, including those to his chest area.
The hit Vogt’s team took was hard enough that all four athletes were injured. Vogt, the world’s third ranked two-man and fourth ranked four-man pilot, suffered a severe concussion and bruises. Push athletes Dominik Hufschmid and Andreas Haas were reported to have minor injuries.
Vogt’s crash was the fifth of the day across both training sessions. Sleds piloted by Taylor Austin (CAN four-man), Frank Del Duca (USA four-man), Johannes Lochner (GER four-man), and Jachym Prochazka (CZE two-man) all recorded DNFs
The remainder of the day’s training runs were canceled for the day and are rescheduled for later in the week.
While the IBSF has stated that all other scheduled on-track activities will go on as scheduled, Swiss Sliding has given their teams the option to sit out the remainder of the race weekend’s events.
The World Cup race weekend in Altenberg kicks off at 4:00 AM ET on Friday with women’s skeleton, followed by men’s skeleton at 8:00 AM ET and the skeleton mixed team event at 12:30 PM ET. Bobsled races begin on Saturday with women’s monobob at 4:00 AM ET and two-man bobsled at 8:00 AM ET. Sunday’s schedule sees the two-woman sleds go off at 4:00 AM ET, and four-man at 7:30 AM ET. All races can be viewed in the United States on ESPN3 (online with a cable provider sign-in), Canada on the CBC website, and internationally on the IBSF YouTube channel.