2024-10-09 03:26:56
In February, bobsleigh pusher Sandro Michel sustained a life-threatening injury in the Altenberg ice track. Now he has spoken about the consequences – and expressed criticism.
Almost eight months ago there was a horror accident on the bobsleigh track in Altenberg: the four-man bobsleigh driven by Swiss pusher Sandro Michel crashed and he fell out of the vehicle. Because the track went uphill in the finish area, the bobsleigh slipped back and ran over Michel. He sustained life-threatening injuries and is still struggling with the consequences. The 28-year-old reported this in a statement on Instagram.
In it, Michel writes that he “every day […] through therapies, the restrictions in everyday life or the huge scars that now mark my body.” Michel also describes his injury: “In addition to various rib fractures, a broken shoulder blade, torn muscles in the chest, significant blood loss and a lung filled with blood, it hit me particularly badly in the hip area. The report states that the wound was 35 by 50 centimeters. The hip bone was dislocated.”
“My leg was just hanging on some skin and a few strands of muscle,” said the bobsleigh pusher, who thanked the rescue workers on site and the work of the doctors in Dresden. It is only thanks to their efforts that he is “alive and still has both legs.”
Michel also writes that his goal is to be able to walk without a cane and to get back into sport. What concerns him most is the question of why it had to come to this. The athlete explains this with an accident that occurred on the same day in the morning in Altenberg at the exact scene of his accident. This happened with the team led by the German bobsledder Johannes Lochner.
Michel said: “They also lost a pusher from the bobsleigh who remained unconscious on the track.” It was only because of the performance of the team members and their reaction that the bobsleigh did not run over the German pusher. Michel continued: “They have already intervened with the railway and said that there must be enough people at this location who can help in the event of a fall.”
The bobsleigh pusher therefore criticizes the safety precautions in Altenberg and explains this as follows: “We should have seen what could happen at the very latest at that point. I simply cannot understand why the incident in the morning was not addressed, and not everything has set out to prevent a repeat.”
German bobsleigh athlete Georg Fleischhauer agreed with Michel on Instagram. He shared the story and wrote: “I’ll sign directly! The same points are absolutely unclear to me.”
The bobsleigh track manager in Altenberg, Jens Morgenstern, had already contradicted criticism of the ice track in February that it was not safe. He explained at a press conference at the time: “I will not accept that Altenberg is now being portrayed as a bogeyman here. This is a global issue.” Michel sees it differently: “After our accident, the train slowed down significantly.” He also wrote that he had not heard anything from the Altenberg railway since the accident.