Swiss skier paralyzed in World Cup crash

VAL D'ISERE, France -- Swiss skier Silvano Beltrametti's legs were permanently paralyzed Saturday in a high-speed crash on an icy course in the opening downhill of the World Cup season.

Beltrametti's life was not in danger but he has a fractured spine and bleeding in his lungs, Swiss team spokesman Marc Waelti said.

World Cup champion Regine Cavagnoud of France died Oct. 31 after colliding with a German ski coach two days earlier during practice in Austria.

Beltrametti, a promising 22-year-old skier who was third in a World Cup super G race Friday, was flown to a hospital in Grenoble and was in intensive care in stable condition. No one at the hospital was available to comment Saturday night.

The Swiss team scheduled a news conference for today.

Austria's Stephan Eberharter, who won Saturday's race, was in the finish area when he learned what happened.

"We all wish him a speedy recovery," Eberharter said. "It's a dangerous sport, but everybody here knows it."

Downhill skiers travel at speeds topping 75 mph, and Beltrametti was heading down the icy and bumpy course when he lost control. He hurtled full force into the safety netting, tearing through it and going into a forest bordering the course.

Veteran U.S. skier Chad Fleischer called the spill "mind-boggling" and "scary."

"It's unbelievably bad luck," he said. "It makes you realize you take the nets for granted. It looked like a dart going through paper."

Team officials said Baltrametti did not hit any trees but was stopped by a mattress-covered pillar. Beltrametti was found fully conscious on a pile of rocks with his helmet split open.

The race was interrupted for almost an hour while medics tended to Beltrametti and officials fixed the jagged, gaping hole in the netting.

As a rookie last season, Beltrametti came in second in a downhill in Lake Louise, Alberta, and fourth in the downhill at the world championships in St. Anton, Austria.

He already had several serious accidents in his short career. In 1999, he broke his wrist in a downhill in Wengen, Switzerland. Last year, also in Wengen, Beltrametti injured vertebrae after crashing in the finish area.

Wisi Betschart, a U.S. skier who didn't complete his run Saturday, said he and American star Daron Rahlves were sitting with Beltrametti in the lodge before the race.

"The last words he said to us was 'Good luck,"' Betschart said. "We're still in shock. It'll be on all our minds tonight."