Olympic ski jump champion Thomas Morgenstern crashes in Austria

Anyone who questions the danger of ski jumping needs only to look at video of three-time Olympic champion Thomas Morgenstern in Tauplitz, Austria, on Friday.

Training for a World Cup event, Morgenstern lost control in midflight, arms flailing and legs askew, then landed hard on his back and bounced down the hill.

Initially unconscious, he was able to speak later, the Austria Press Agency reported.

It marked the second time in less than a month that Morgenstern has crashed.

In mid-December, he suffered a fracture of his right little finger, bruises, cuts and abrasions.

“I feel pretty strong pain all over my body but I hope it’s nothing really serious,” he said in a statement released by the international ski federation at the time. “But I think that the next days might get pretty hard.”

There has been no further word about his condition after Friday’s crash.