Speaking to Eurosport, French skier Nils Allègre strongly criticized the state of the track in Bormio. During downhill training this Friday, Cyprien Sarrazin suffered a violent fall.
Nils Allègre has a “strong” opinion and does not hesitate to share it. On the sidelines of the violent fall of his compatriot Cyprien Sarrazin this Friday during the second downhill training in Bormio (Italy), the French skier castigated the quality of the track proposed by the organizers.
The Bormio track is renowned as one of the most difficult on the circuit, with this year some very icy parts in particular. “My opinion is clear: they don’t know how to prepare a track,” lamented Nils Allègre at Eurosport. “They’ve been preparing slopes for 40 years but they don’t know how to do anything apart from dangerous things (…) I find that it’s not respectful for the athletes. When we arrive here, it’s already broken during the first training session.”
“I take the risks but it’s not right”
For Allègre, there is a very clear difference between the quality of the track in Bormio and that of Kitzbühel for example. This Friday, during the second training session, Cyprien Sarrazin lost control when flying over a bump and bounced violently on the track. “San Pietro (a jump, Editor’s note), we go 55 meters if we don’t brake,” took Allègre as an example.
Winner in Bormio last winter, Sarrazin was evacuated by helicopter after several minutes. The French Federation quickly indicated that the athlete “was conscious”. “It’s hard to have unity of speech among the athletes, we don’t all have the same opinion. I have mine, it’s clear-cut and I fully accept it. Tomorrow, I’ll be at the start, I “assume the risks but it is not correct”, judged Allègre again.
“I don’t know what they are trying to prove. One year away from organizing the Olympic Games, doing a track like that… They don’t deserve to have them,” concluded Nils Allègre about the Italian organizers. As a reminder, the cities of Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo have been chosen to host the 2026 Winter Olympics. The Bormio site will host the alpine skiing events on this occasion.
