Austrian Skier, 19, in Coma After Crash in World Cup Race

Christina Putz, a 19-year-old Austrian skier, was in a coma and clinging to life Thursday after crashing at 62 m.p.h. during the first World Cup women’s downhill race of the season.

A medical bulletin said doctors were awaiting the results of brain scans before making further statements. The Austrian team doctor, Sigi Wagner, examined the skier moments after the crash.

“She suffered heavy head injuries; she’s unconscious,” Wagner said. “Her life’s in danger; I found blood in her lungs.”

Putz, in only her second year of World Cup competition, went out of control entering the Bank Turn of the 1.3-mile O-K course. She took the wrong line with her skis and struggled fruitlessly to recover before going into the high, sloping turn.

Her ski tip caught on a sideline restraining bag, part of the safety system designed to prevent racers from going off the course.

Putz went skyward, crashing over the plastic barrier and onto the ground. Then she was launched on a second somersaulting arc of 30 to 50 feet before crashing face down off the course, her fluorescent green-and-pink-suited body crumpling in a heap.

She was rushed by police helicopter to the Sablons a La Tronche Hospital in Grenoble with serious head injuries.

Course setter Currie Chapman, the Canadian women’s coach, was shocked by the crash but said it was not the fault of the race layout.

“The course isn’t dangerous; it’s an excellent one,” Chapman said. “It’s not that hard of a turn, but you have to run a proper line.”

Putz, who placed 15th in a downhill last spring at Vail, Colo., qualified for one of the 10 race spots on the powerful Austrian team Wednesday by clocking the 20th best training time of the day.

Practice for the two downhills Thursday and today had been called off Monday after coaches decided the run, formed partially from the classic Val d’Isere men’s course, was too fast for the women.

Gates were moved to check the speed before training runs started Tuesday.

Chapman said the O-K run “wasn’t any faster today than yesterday.

“If you get off the line though, you’ll create problems. I don’t know what to say. It’s terrible; you can’t feel good after something like this.”

American Pam Ann Fletcher also went off the run at the same spot as Putz, going into the turn that sets skiers up for a gravity-increasing compression two curves from the finish line.

But Fletcher was luckier than the Austrian. The American, who started from the 39th spot in the 69-racer-field, landed hard along the same trajectory as Putz but suffered only contusions and was able to ski down to the finish line.

The race was won by West Germany’s Michaela Gerg, who edged Canada’s Laurie Graham by .11 of a second.

Gerg was timed in 1 minute 25.59 seconds, Graham in 1:25.70. Maria Walliser of Switzerland was third in 1:25.75.

“The course was difficult, but that’s the way I like them,” Gerg said. “I didn’t have any problems.”

Austrian Katrin Gutensohn was fourth in 1:26.09, just ahead of American Olympic giant slalom champion Debbie Armstrong, who was fifth in 1:26.27. Favorite Michela Figini of Switzerland was sixth in 1:26.32.