Swiss bobsledder in recovery following emergency surgery

Swiss bobsled athlete Sandro Michel is recovering from emergency surgery, his team said Wednesday, after a training crash that has left some sledders considering whether it's safe or appropriate to compete in World Cup races this weekend.

Michel was the brakeman at the back of a four-man sledge piloted by Michael Vogt that crashed on Tuesday during training. 

He was tossed from his seat and was still on the ice when the vehicle slid back down the icy chute. The International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation said Michel was "run over by the bobsleigh, which was uncontrollably sliding back from the finish area".

Michel lost consciousness in the crash, in which his leg, hip, thigh and chest were all hurt. He was airlifted from the track to a hospital about 120 kilometres away in Dresden because of the severity of his injuries, the team and IBSF officials said.

It is not known how fast the sled was going when it crashed, but some others during training sessions on Tuesday were reaching speeds as high as 129 kilometres per hour. 

The Swiss team said Vogt “suffered a severe concussion and bruises”, while teammates Dominik Hufschmid and Andreas Haas also sustained slight injuries.

Vogt and Michel are an experienced team who placed fourth at the 2022 Beijing Olympics in two-man bob and took bronze at the world championships last year.

The pair won a World Cup race in December and are third in the season-long standings. Vogt’s four-man bob crew is fourth in that discipline’s World Cup standings.

The crash left athletes from many countries shaken as the weekend's events approach.

“If this was one of my teammates I certainly would not want to be competing in a World Cup like everything is normal,” British bobsledder Greg Cackett wrote on