Norwegian guardian Tord Hegdhal witnessed Arsi Ruuskanen’s injury, which took the Finnish skier to the hospital. Finnish team doctor Janne Pesonen said that Ruuskanen is in good health considering the conditions.
20:11•Updated 20:15
Planica World Cup skiing on channels 22.2.–5.3.2023. See the program and broadcast information of the World Ski Championships in this link.
Finnish skier Arsi Ruuskanen fell badly at the beginning of the combined race at the World Championships in Planica and injured his leg.
The accident of the 23-year-old Finnish skier was not captured on TV. Instead, a Norwegian guardian Tord Hegdal witnessed a situation from 50 meters away, in which, in addition to Ruuskanen, an Italian skier was involved Paolo Ventura.
According to Hegdahl, Ventura and Ruuskanen crashed, after which they slid off the track. The Italian luckily avoided the wooden advertising fence erected by the side of the track, but the Finn was not as lucky.
– I didn’t see where the situation started, but it was a very bad accident. The impact point was solid wood, and he was in pain immediately after the collision, Hegdahl says by phone and estimates Ruuskanen’s speed to be around 30–35 kilometers per hour.
– The Finn was left hanging on the fence, Hegdahl describes.
Finnish team doctor Janne Pesonen confirms to Urheilu that Ruuskanen hit the billboard and probably both the pole and the wooden leg of the billboard.
According to Norwegian guardian Hegdhal, Ruuskanen quickly received help from guardians from different countries, but it took about ten minutes for the snowmobile that took him away to arrive.
– At that point, the track is not close to the road, so the ambulance couldn’t get there, says Hegdahl.
– He had to be carried away from the scene of the accident. Walking was out of the question.
According to doctor Pesonen, Ruuskanen is in good health considering the circumstances.
– All possible tests have been done on him and the results will be available this evening, Pesonen says.
The Ski Federation will inform more about Ruuskanen’s condition later, but according to Pesonen, the continuation of Ruuskanen’s World Championships does not look good.
– Weren’t the games here?
“He could have hit his head”
Norwegian guardian Hegdahl says that the snow during the race was different from the week-long tests of the Norwegian maintenance forces.
– In these circumstances, the advertising material should have been placed elsewhere. I’ve been skiing the accident site for a week, but the conditions were completely different today than before, says Hegdahl.
Sports expert Ville Nousiainen visited the accident site and stated that the situation could have been worse.
– If he had fallen a couple of meters earlier, there would have been a big rock on which he could have hit his head. There could have been an even worse outcome, Nousiainen says.
According to Nousiainen, the situation could have been prevented by tilting the track. They had been tried, but too few.
– In that bend, we start to turn left, we approach it at high speed and it gets steeper all the time. If the right side of the bench had been raised a little higher, it would have had a good tilt. In that case, it would not be so easy to drift to the right side, nor off the track, Nousiainen reflects.
According to Nousiainen, the biggest problem in the situation is that people come to that corner in a large group.
– When you go in a loess with a hundred people, there is only a little to do. If someone stumbles or falls over, there’s nothing you can do about it.