BEAVER CREEK, Colo.—World Cup overall champion Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway crashed during downhill training Tuesday and was hospitalized with broken bones in his face and a deep cut on his thigh.
Svindal was kept in the hospital overnight Tuesday and won’t ski in any races this weekend, Norwegian team coach Marius Arnesen said. Svindal broke his nose in two places, broke a cheekbone and sustained the cut to his leg.
He was expected to undergo further tests on Wednesday.
Svindal apparently lost control on the lower section of the run. He was removed from the course on a sled before being transported to Vail Valley Medical Center, organizers said.
In addition to the facial injuries, he had a 6-inch laceration on the back of his left leg. The 24-year-old skier possibly lost or broke some teeth, officials said.
The training run was not televised and few people witnessed the accident.
Svindal won a super-G in Lake Louise, Alberta, on Sunday to reclaim the lead in the overall standings. He was 17th in the season’s only other downhill, at Lake Louise on Saturday. He won the season-opening giant slalom at Soelden, Austria.
Scarce snow forced race organizers to artificially produce a lot of the snow covering the Birds Of Prey course. The layer covering the course is relatively thin, meaning the terrain is particularly bumpy and rolling.
Svindal was coming off the Golden Eagle jump and heading into a sudden dip that follows when he was injured.
American Steven Nyman said the Golden Eagle jump was bigger than ever and skiers were flying further and higher than usual off it. Seven skiers failed to finish the run but no others were injured.
“Today I went off and I didn’t expect it to be that big,” Nyman said. “All the boys are saying it’s a lot bigger than it’s ever been. I totally stood up, not pushing it, made a good press and was way up in the air.”
Switzerland’s Didier Cuche, who had the fastest time in training, said that part of the course was particularly tricky this year.
“It’s really short and pushing you down really hard,” he said. “You have some bumps in the compression and five meters after that you jump out of the compression and that could be really dangerous. If you make an edge mistake there, you’re going to fly but not in the right way.”
