BORMIO: Norway suffered a second blow this week as racer Fredrik Moeller was taken to hospital after crashing in the men’s first downhill training run at the Milano Cortina Olympics on Wednesday.
Norway, usually among the leading contenders in men’s alpine skiing, have already lost Aleksander Aamodt Kilde to injury.
“The 25-year-old Moeller, with a Bormio gold in super-G under his belt from the 2024 World Cup, dislocated his left shoulder,” team doctor Trond Floberghagen said in a statement.
He suffered no other injuries and treatment has gone well, but it is still unclear if Moeller will participate in the Games.
Kilde, who made his comeback from injury earlier this season after nearly two years on the sidelines, pulled out of the Olympics on Tuesday after failing to regain full fitness.
The 33-year-old won a bronze medal in the super-G at the 2022 Beijing Games.
“The timing of Moeller’s crash was not great for the Norwegian team’s spirit,” said racer Adrian Smiseth Sejersted, who was still looking ahead optimistically.
“Now we’re at least two guys,” Sejersted said after his training run, referring to himself and team-mate Simen Sellaeg. “Two guys is much more than one. But yeah, we should be three and four and five [skiers].”
The infamously steep Stelvio slope has not become any more nerve-wracking for the 31-year-old Olympian, however.
“I think this is the easiest downhill in Bormio I’ve ever done,” he said of the friendlier snow conditions. “In December it’s always super, super icy and extremely challenging.”
The men’s downhill is scheduled for Feb 7.
FIRST DOWNHILL TRAINING CANCELLED
Meanwhile, Milan-Cortina organisers said the first downhill skiing training session at the Winter Olympics has been cancelled due to heavy snowfall.
“Due to the ongoing snowfall and the forecast for tomorrow [Thursday] the DH training 1 is cancelled,” organisers said in a statement to media.
Cortina d’Ampezzo was scheduled to host on Thursday morning the first of three downhill training sessions ahead of the race on Sunday which opens the women’s alpine skiing.
The other two sessions, scheduled for Friday and Saturday on Cortina’s Olimpia delle Tofane piste, are still set to be held but the weather forecast for the next few days is for more snowfall in the Dolomite mountains in northern Italy.
The cancellation means Lindsey Vonn will have to wait at least a day to take part in the one official training session she needs to be able to race the downhill.
Vonn insists that she will compete for medals in Cortina even after suffering a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament while crashing out of last week’s World Cup downhill in Crans-Montana.
Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2026