Austrian coaches scolded and fined for near collision on downhill course

Austrian coaches scolded and fined for near collision on downhill course{mosimage}Two Austrian coaches were reprimanded and fined for movement on the course during the men’s World Cup downhill at St. Anton, Austria, on Saturday.

There was nearly a collision between the two coaches and Marc Botollier-Lasquin, one of the racers who started just out of the top-30.

After the jury spoke with eyewitnesses, the two coaches, Gunther Gerhard and Hager Martin, were fined 500 Swiss Francs each, and were scolded in the team captains’ meeting by FIS race director Gunther Hujara.

“This was extremely, extremely dangerous,” said Hujara. “We have so much luck that there was not a very, very bad accident. I feel very sorry for the racer, who continued racing, so [gets] no re-run. If he would have stopped, he would have been given immediately a re-run.”

Hujara also said that the FIS would be more stringent in its enforcement of “no movement” rules, which have gotten more and more strict in recent years.

Toni Giger, the head coach of the Austrian men’s team, said that the coaches were in the race line “working on the slope,” and were in contact with the race organizers through radio communication.

“This was a misunderstanding,” said Giger.