World Champion skier suffers season ending injury

Super G skiing world champion Dominik Paris has suffered a season ending injury whilst training for this weekend’s infamous races, the Hahnenkamm in Kitzbuhel.

The 30-year-old Italian tore the ACL in his right knee and rules him out for the rest of the world cup skiing calendar.  

Paris has won the Austrian event three times including last year’s competition on the slopes, making him the third most successful skier at Kitzbuhel. 

But the reigning champion will have to watch a different face standing at the top of the podium on the weekend as the title is up for grabs. 

 Due to Paris’ absence on the weekend, the leading favourites to take the top spot at the prestigious downhill race are Swiss rider Beat Feuz and German Thomas Dressen. 

Feuz, who has 13 world cup wins to his name came second behind the Italian at Kitzbuhel last year in the downhill event. 

The 32-year-old Swiss will be coming up against 2018 downhill winner at the Hahnenkamm Thomas Dressen who is looking to add more world cup wins to his name. 

The German’s victory two years ago was his first on the world cup circuit and has only managed a further two victories to his name since then. 

A further challenger for the title could be this seasons World Cup leader and 2016 slalom champion Henrik Kristofferson who is in fine form on the slopes leading into the weekend. 

 The Hahnenkamm downhill skiing race in Kitzbuhel, Austria taking place at the weekend is one of the most thrill seeking and dangerous sporting events in the world.  

The course challenges the very best athletes from all over the world in a spine-tingling collection of twists, turns and sudden drops. 

From the start the riders have no time to keep calm as they must focus on the sharp right and left turns leading into the notorious ‘Mausfalle’, a jump, compression and left turn. 

At this stage of the contest the competitors will travel from 0-60 mph in under three seconds, faster than most cars on the planet. 

The concentration of the athletes is required throughout the blood curdling descent as speeds of 85 mph are known to have been reached, one slip of alertness could be deadly. 

 The event is the biggest in the Austrian sporting calendar and attracts fans from all over the world, coming as far as USA, Great Britain and other European nations. 

The skiing isn’t the only draw for fans as the weekend is deemed the biggest party in skiing, with several packed-out bars and cafes, not forgetting the festival atmosphere. 

Hahnenkamm attracts several famous faces such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gwyneth Paltrow, George Clooney, Mario Götze and Max Verstappen have all been spotted on the slopes. 

In previous years, as well as seeing a smattering of celebrities, the event has hosted between 80,000 and 100,000 people hoping to catch a glimpse of some hair-raising action.