Sarrazin, 30, fell on the formidable and controversial Stelvio where the downhill for the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan Cortina will take place in thirteen months.
Best time the day before the first training before the World Cup downhill on Saturday, he dominated this second training before being unbalanced in the “wall of San Pietro”the last difficulty of the track.
The Haut-Alpin lost control of his skis and literally flew over a bump, triggering the opening of his protective airbag.
The skier from Dévoluy then bounced violently on the snow, before ending his race in the tarpaulins and protective nets after an interminable slide.
He ended up being joined by the emergency services while the training was interrupted in a chilling silence and all the descenders wondered about the state of health of “Cyp”.
After twenty minutes of treatment away from the cameras, the world No.2 in descent last winter was evacuated by helicopter to the hospital in the neighboring town of Sondalo.
In a first press release, the FFS quickly indicated that Sarrazin “was conscious”.
Winner in 2023
The second press release, published three hours later, aroused concern: “After his fall during training in Bormio this (Friday) morning, Cyprien Sarrazin suffers from a subdural hematoma, he is in the hospital in neurological intensive care for the moment”wrote the FFS which then published a more reassuring message from the doctor of the French ski teams, Stéphane Bulle: “Cyprien is conscious, he remains under surveillance”.
This message was followed by a new press release, announcing that “following additional examinations, as well as Cyprien's clinical evolution, it was decided in agreement with the Italian surgeons to operate on Cyprien this (Friday) evening to drain the subdural hematoma.”
Sarrazin expected a lot from his reunion with the Stelvio after a mixed first month of competition with a second place in super-G at Beaver Creek (United States) but two disappointing descents, his strong discipline (9th at Beaver Creek, 17th at Val Gardena, Italy).
Last winter, Sarrazin had by far the best season of his career, signing his second World Cup victory in Bormio, the first after seven years and his success in parallel.
Long a specialist on the giant, Sarrazin won four victories in 2023-24, including two successes in two days in Kitzbühel (Austria), considered the most prestigious speed stage on the circuit.
“It’s certain that in Bormio, I will have good memories that will come back,” he explained during a press briefing on Monday. “It’s a place that will stay in my memory for a long time. There will be the excitement, the desire to go there”.
“They don’t deserve the Olympics”
But Sarrazin was not yet looking ahead to the 2026 Olympics, the men's downhill, the traditional highlight of the Winter Olympics, will take place on February 7, 2026 in Bormio.
“It will come little by little, a lot of people talk to me about it, it’s a bit in my head but Bormio in December and Bormio in February are not at all the same Bormio”he remarked.
More than three kilometers long with challenging sloping sections, the Stelvio is one of the most difficult tracks on the circuit with its altitude difference of almost 1000 mits 60% average slope and especially its icy surface at this time of year.
Another descender, the Italian Pietro Zazzi, was also evacuated by helicopter and suffered a double fracture of the tibia-fibula of his right leg, while the world No.1, the Swiss Marco Odermatt, suffered a ” careful training run.
If Bormio is one of the “classics” of the World Cup and has hosted the World Championships twice (1985, 2005), the Lombard stage is hardly appreciated by skiers who regularly criticize the preparation of the slope.
“They don't know how to prepare the slopes, They've been preparing the slopes for forty years and they don't know how to do anything other than prepare dangerous slopes“thus attacked the Frenchman Nils Allègre on Eurosport. “They don't deserve to have the Olympics here“he concluded.
