Ski Racers Keep Crashing. So They’ve Been Fitted With Airbags.

Personally, I favor seat belts.

Ski Racers Keep Crashing. So They’ve Been Fitted With Airbags.

The international ski federation now requires World Cup racers in the speediest disciplines to wear the crash-sensing tech

By Rachel Bachman

Dec. 6, 2024 10:00 am ET

Serious injuries from crashes have always been a part of alpine skiing and, for most of the sport’s history, were seen as an occupational hazard. But over the past decade, officials have been searching for creative ways to mitigate those risks without sacrificing speed.

Their solution was that alpine racers in some of the most dangerous events in sports should have at least one thing in common with a family sedan: They now come with airbags.

Skiers in World Cup circuit downhill and super-G races, who often fly down the slopes at more than 80 miles per hour, now must wear vests that inflate when internal sensors detect their wearer is about to crash. The first race under the new requirement, enacted by the international ski federation known as FIS, is set to be the World Cup downhill on Friday in Beaver Creek, Colo.

The new rule has plenty of high-profile backers, including U.S. star Lindsey Vonn, who has been training with the U.S. team in preparation for a return to the sport after initially retiring five years ago. A three-time Olympic medalist, she said that she had already been wearing an airbag over her last year or two of competition.

“There are very few things we can do to make ski racing safer, but air bags are one of them,” she said. “It is a great step for the safety of our sport.”

The new rule has plenty of high-profile backers, including U.S. star Lindsey Vonn, who has been training with the U.S. team in preparation for a return to the sport.

But some skiers are pushing back. For one, they say the airbags are bulky and uncomfortable without even protecting an athlete’s head and neck. They also worry that the airbags could malfunction and accidentally deploy midrace.

The airbag vests, which have been in development for more than a decade, are worn underneath skiers’ racing suits. When the system is triggered by a range of factors including impact and position of the body, it inflates for a few seconds, creating a buffer zone around a skier’s torso to protect against damage to the spine and vital organs.

Officials say that the rule wasn’t a reaction to any specific incident. FIS secretary-general Michel Vion added that after years of study, research had shown that “the airbag system considerably reduces the risk of serious injuries in speed disciplines.” He added that the next stage of development will be adopting airbags for the head and neck, and that FIS hopes to eventually deploy the airbag system across all levels of pro alpine skiing.

U.S. Ski team member Tricia Mangan said she has had several crashes in the three years she has been voluntarily wearing an airbag vest and that it has helped prevent potential rib injuries, and getting the wind knocked out of her. But she too was concerned about instances when the airbags inflated at the wrong time.

U.S. Ski team member Jared Goldberg secures an air bag vest. Photo: Jared Goldberg

“My teammate was just ducking under a fence line at training and because she ducked under it and was going really quickly, it deployed,” she said.

Jared Goldberg, another U.S. Ski team member, described wearing an airbag while on a giant slalom course—an event not covered under the new rule—and hearing a startling, loud “Vvvvv!” noise when it deployed.

“In my opinion, it didn’t need to go off because I wasn’t going so fast,” he said.

The risk of accidental deployment is even more worrying to athletes, given how few racing opportunities they have—and Vion indicated that there would be no re-runs in case of malfunction.

“No piece of hardware is 100% fail-proof, so in theory it would be possible for an airbag to go off accidentally, which would be treated like any other equipment malfunction: as part of the sport,” he said.

Athletes can, however, request exemptions from the airbag rule and a total of 38 men and women have already received one for the 2024-25 season, Vion said. Additional requests would be considered for “a justifiable medical, technical, or physiological constraint reason,” he added.

Goldberg said that another concern was the expense to ski racers: He pays about half the cost of the airbag system, which costs about $1,000 in total.

But Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, a two-time Olympic medal-winning racer from Norway still recuperating from a frightful crash nearly a year ago, believes the mandatory airbags are a good thing. In fact, he said, he would take safety measures even further: Kilde is also a proponent of cut-resistant apparel.

Aleksander Aamodt Kilde crashed during a men’s downhill race in Wengen, Switzerland, in January 2024. Photo: EPA/Shutterstock

Racing ski edges are sharpened to a blade edge to help athletes stay up on icy courses. In effect, that means skiers fast enough to get a highway speeding ticket with “knives on your feet,” Kilde said.

During his crash in January, Kilde wasn’t wearing the cut-proof long underwear and his own ski cut his calf almost to the bone. FIS strongly recommends its use, and is considering requiring it as soon as next season.

“I feel like that’s probably a better way, and it’s a more secure way of helping than the airbag,” Kilde said.