Bobsled Crash at Cortina leaves three teams with Did Not Finish
A bobsled crash during the second heats of the four-man competition at the Cortina Sliding Centre saw three sleds tip over around the same turn, leaving the Austrian pilot Jakob Mandlbauer taken to a hospital for checks and forcing a roughly 20-minute delay in the event.
Bobsled Crash at Curve 7
Three teams — Austria, France and Trinidad & Tobago — overturned at the large, U-shaped Curve 7 about halfway down the roughly 1, 750-meter track,. In each case the sleds tipped onto their side and slid for a long stretch, almost to the finish line, before coming to a stop. A stretcher was brought to the scene, and the competition was halted for approximately 20 minutes while medical personnel attended the athletes.
Injuries and team statements
Jakob Mandlbauer, the Austrian pilot, was down on the track for a prolonged period and was taken to a Cortina hospital for checks; an Austrian team official said he was "not so bad" and that there was "no injury, only a check. " Mandlbauer’s teammates Daniel Bertschler, Sebastian Mitterer and Daiyehan Nichols-Bardi were seen standing and walking away from the scene under their own power. A member of the French sled — pilot Romain Heinrich — said that when a sled flips its trajectory can strike the wood or the other side of the course and that athletes try to protect themselves inside the shell; Heinrich added that it can be better for the head to hit the ice while shoulders remain inside to avoid shoulder injuries.
Trinidad & Tobago pilot Axel Brown said he went to steer right and "the D-ring snapped in my hands, " leaving him with no steering. Brown, who has said these would be his last Olympics, called it a "crazy way to end an Olympics and to end a career, " and said a mechanical failure made the outcome especially disappointing.
Results, rules and prior crashes on the track
Because all four athletes must cross the finish line with their sled for a run to count, none of the three teams completed their runs and all registered a "Did Not Finish, " which removed them from contention in the event. Canada was in first place when Austria’s sled flipped; Canadian pilot Jay Dearborn said it is difficult to watch sleds go over at the Olympics and that no one wants to climb positions that way. The track contains 16 curves and runs to a low point at the bottom before rising again to slow sleds as athletes pull the brakes.
Organizers and athletes noted prior incidents on the same track: a Team USA pilot crashed during a training run at Curve 4 in November, and one of that sled’s push athletes later sustained a concussion and retired from the sport. Broadcast coverage of the sliding events noted sled speeds can reach about 90 miles per hour on the course.
The bobsled crash left the three teams disqualified from the second heats, and officials paused the competition for roughly 20 minutes after the incidents while medical staff attended the scene. Mandlbauer was taken to a hospital for further checks; the second heats were interrupted as organizers addressed the on-track incident.
