French Skier Dies of Injuries

Champion skier Regine Cavagnoud died Wednesday, two days after slamming into a German coach while training on a glacier.

With her family gathered at her bedside, Cavagnoud’s respirator was disconnected after tests showed her brain had ceased to function, said Dr. Wolfgang Koller, head of the trauma intensive-care unit at the Innsbruck University Clinic.

The 31-year-old French speed skier had just cleared a slight hump on the Pitztal glacier and was hurtling down the mountain at about 40 mph when Markus Anwander, a coach from the German team, crossed into her path, witnesses told authorities.

Both sustained severe head injuries and Cavagnoud went into cardiac arrest. Her coach performed CPR before emergency officials airlifted her and Anwander to the Innsbruck hospital.

Though Cavagnoud suffered severe head injuries, her brain was functioning when she was admitted to the clinic, Koller said. Her condition worsened as brain swelling compounded the existing injuries, he said.

Anwander underwent spinal surgery Wednesday.

“One cannot say whether he will recover, “ Dr. Norbert Mutz of the Innsbruck hospital told the Austria Press Agency. “He is a seriously injured patient.”

An autopsy was performed on Cavagnoud as part of an investigation to determine who was responsible for her death. Earlier, investigators had focused on Anwander, but have broadened their investigation to include others at the scene.

Anyone found responsible for Cavagnoud’s death could be charged with manslaughter, a crime that carries up to one year in prison, said Rudolf Koll, a spokesman for the state attorney’s office in Innsbruck.

German and French ski officials said the accident was caused by communication problems between their teams, which both were practicing on the Pitztal glacier but were operating on different walkie-talkie frequencies.

A senior official in the German ski federation, Walter Vogel, said Wednesday that no one on the German team knew that Cavagnoud was coming down the mountain.