Victor Muffat-Jeandet breaks ankle amid poor conditions in Zagreb
The men’s slalom race in Zagreb was cancelled on Jan. 6 after 19 racers did their best to navigate the track made of a sticky mixture of snow, dirt, and salt — but not before an athlete paid the price for the unsafe conditions.
Victor Muffat-Jeandet, a 32 year old Frenchman, broke his ankle on Jan. 6 after starting bib 12 in Zagreb. The 2018 Olympic bronze medalist’s crash occurs at 31:20 in the video below:
Muffat’s teammates, competitors, support crew and ski racing fans have spoken out about how FIS handled this event, many saying that it should never have started in the first place.
Henrik Kristofferson is among them. He is quoted by the Associated Press saying, “These are no World Cup conditions. It is dangerous in some parts. Marco (Schwarz) and Loïc (Meillard) said the grass is coming through. For the spectators, I think, it looks weird,” after his run in Zagreb.
Another problem that Kristofferson recognized according to the Associated Press was that some of the decision making responsibility was placed on the athletes. “It’s weird they have to ask the athletes,” said Kristoffersen, “FIS needs to have enough knowledge to know how things are for a ski racer, for a coach, when you decide whether it is good enough to race or not.” He also noted that only half of the top athletes wanted to start the race.
Frenchman Alexis Pinturault called out FIS in an Instagram post after his race, and wrote, “I’m just irritated and have a heavy heart for my friend @vmuffatjeandet.”
With four weeks until the Olympics, the timing of this injury is fairly catastrophic for Muffat-Jeandet, who had his sights set on the upcoming main event. His technician, Valentin Bon Betend, has spoken out on social media and made it clear that he is among those who strongly believe this race should not have ever happened.
Betend paints a picture of athletes doing their warmups in dirt, having to wipe mud from their carefully prepped skis and their team jackets.
“I was ashamed to witness this grotesque spectacle, which was anything but telegenic, loyal and respectful of the actors who are the athletes,” he said.
Betend is a seasoned professional on the circuit, he has proudly supported the World Cup for a decade. His most recent opinion indicates that he may have changed his mind about how FIS is handling itself.
“It has been 10 years now that I have been practicing this profession with passion and pride. 7 years of surveying the World Cup tracks across the globe. But last night I went to bed with this feeling of shame and pain because I don’t like this Alpine Skiing anymore.”
More than this, he is hurt and disappointed for his athlete, Muffat-Jeandet.
“It hurts for him [Muffat-Jeandet] because he was deprived of a month of January that was shaping up to be exciting and thrilling for him. He was ‘eventually’ deprived of an Olympic destiny.”
Many of the comments on the FIS social media reflected his emotions regarding the way the event was handled.
Muffat-Jeandet had been looking forward to the season, and had posted to his instagram just days before the injury with the caption “2021 was wild, keep going 2022.”
Sadly, Muffat-Jeandet will have to wait until his ankle is healed to start any more races in 2022. Certainly not the 2022 that he was excitedly referring to.
Ultimately there is debate over whether the race was handled appropriately. Unfortunately for Muffat-Jeandet, the repercussions of the race cannot be undone.
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