Three more skiers airlifted off 2026 Olympics slope in Bormio

BORMIO, Italy — Fredrik Moeller of Norway claimed his first World Cup victory by winning a super-G that got off to an inauspicious start on Sunday as Gino Caviezel became the third skier this weekend to be airlifted off the slope set to be used for the 2026 Olympics.

After Alexis Monney's debut World Cup win in the downhill the previous day, Moeller also recorded his first victory on the circuit with an early benchmark run down the fearsome Stelvio slope to finish 0.20 seconds ahead of Austrian skier Vincent Kriechmayr.

"It feels really good," Moeller said. "My skiing was obviously good. It felt like I made some mistakes, which I did, but they weren't that costly. I managed to ski well where I know I can, and not do anything stupid."

Monney, who was 27th out of the gate, threatened to knock Moeller out of the leader's chair after the Swiss skier recovered from a poor start, but finished third, just four hundredths of a second behind Kriechmayr — to Moeller's obvious relief.

"It's crazy. I don't know really what to say and I don't realize what happened this weekend," Monney told reporters. "The Olympics is still far away, but, for sure, I like the slope a lot."

Like Monney, Moeller had never even been on the podium prior to this weekend. His previous best finish was fourth.

But, the young guns clearly enjoyed the Stelvio, where the men's Alpine skiing events are set to take place in 14 months at the Milan-Cortina Olympics.

"Incredible. I'm 33 years old, and they keep pushing all the time," Kriechmayr said. "They are always on the limit. Now I think you have to be 100 percent from top to bottom, and if you're not searching for the limit, you're not able to beat them.

"It's good to know what I have to do, but it's incredible what they are doing now."

Both Monney and Moeller are 24.

"Yeah, it's crazy, it's really nice that we can push the older ones a bit, get better maybe," Monney added with a laugh.

It was a miserable day for compatriot Caviezel, however.

The 32-year-old was first out of the gates, but crashed heavily early on and was flown by Swiss Air Rescue straight back to Switzerland where he was diagnosed with a dislocated shoulder, as well as "a complex knee injury", according to his ski federation.

French standout Cyprien Sarrazin and Italian Pietro Zazzi were also taken off the slope by helicopter after crashing in separate incidents in downhill training on Friday.

Sarrazin underwent surgery to drain a bleed near the brain, while Zazzi had an operation on his leg.

Marco Odermatt of Switzerland still leads the super-G standings, but has seen his advantage cut to just five points by Moeller. He leads the overall standings by 161 points.

Agencies via Xinhua