Top Austrian skier Marcel Hirscher has narrowly avoided being hit by a drone that crashed in the snow behind him during the World Cup event in Italy.
The drone carrying a TV camera for the broadcast crew landed just behind four-time defending overall champion Hirscher during his second slalom run at Madonna di Campiglio on Tuesday.
While Hirscher may have been hit by some small pieces, he didn’t appear to notice.
“This is horrible,” Hirscher, who finished second, said.
“This can never happen again. This can be a serious injury.”
Race director Markus Waldner from the ruling body FIS said “we narrowly avoided a catastrophe. We checked that the drone can only fly in a corridor next to the slope. But it flew more and more into the slope.”
Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway won by a massive 1.25 seconds for the Olympic bronze medalist’s sixth World Cup victory.
He also became the first man to win the opening two slaloms of the season since Austria’s Reinfried Herbst six years ago.
Marco Schwarz of Austria finished third, 1.59 seconds behind.
Hirscher reclaimed the overall World Cup lead from Aksel Lund Svindal.