French skier Alexis Pinturault airlifted from course with knee injury after crash in Kitzbuehel

KITZBUEHEL, Austria (AP) — French ski star Alexis Pinturault was taken off the hill by helicopter with a right knee injury after he became one of a series of racers who crashed in a men’s World Cup super-G on Friday.

The French ski federation said Pinturault suffered a significant bone bruise on the medial plateau and a minor fracture of the medial meniscus, adding he would travel to France for treatment.

Swiss skier Marco Odermatt won the race, which was the last men’s super-G before the Feb. 4-16 world championships in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria.

Pinturault, a three-time Olympic medalist who has won 34 World Cup races and the 2021 overall championship, has eight medals, including three golds, from previous world championships.

On Friday, he competed only in his eighth race since returning from an 11-month layoff for an injury to his left knee.

His French teammate Florian Loriot also crashed at the same spot and was airlifted with unknown injuries. Italian skier Dominik Paris and Austrians Lukas Feurstein and Otmar Striedinger were among the other racers who went down but seemed to have avoided injuries.

Entering a left turn, Pinturault caught a bump and his right ski hit a gate before he slid off the course. He initially stood up but laid down again and tapped on his right knee when medics attended him.

The helicopter arrived in a few minutes, onboarding the 33-year-old Pinturault with his wife Romane and their one-year-old daughter Olympe watching from the finish area. Romane Pinturault travels with her husband as part of his entourage handling media relations.

A year ago, Pinturault badly crashed in a super-G in Wengen, rupturing the cruciate ligaments and internal meniscus in his left knee. He underwent surgery and only returned to racing in Beaver Creek, Colorado, last December.

Last week, he opted not to start in the super-G in the Swiss resort.

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