Canadian Skier Nick Zoricic Dies After Horrifying World Cup Crash
- Posted on March 10, 2012 at 12:56pm by
Madeleine Morgenstern
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Staff members and medical assistants try to reanimate Canada`s Nick Zoricic who has crashed hardly after the finish jump during the skicross world cup finals, Saturday March 10, 2012 in Grindelwald, Switzerland . The race has been cancelled after the accident. (AP Photo/Keystone/Samuel Truempy)
GRINDELWALD, Switzerland (AP) — Canadian racer Nick Zoricic died from head injuries after crashing in a World Cup skicross event on Saturday, the International Ski Federation said.
The 29-year-old Zoricic died as a result of “severe neurotrauma,” the federation said in a statement.
Zoricic crashed directly into safety nets lining the side of the course after going wide over the final jump. Television showed Zoricic tumbling through the nets as his skis and poles were thrown clear.
“Nick Zoricic fell heavily just before the finish in the round of eight, crashing directly into the safety netting and thereafter lying motionless,” the federation said. “The medical care from team doctors and Air Glacier followed immediately.”
The Canadian team expressed its condolences.
“Our thoughts are first and foremost with Nick’s parents and his family,” Alpine Canada President Max Gartner said in a statement. “Nick was a very talented young ski racer and a great athlete who was much loved by his teammates and fellow competitors.”
Nick Zoricic (AP File Photo)
Organizers canceled World Cup events for men and women on Saturday, along with the scheduled World Cup Finals races at the same venue on Sunday.
Zoricic has raced on the World Cup circuit for more than three years and was competing in his 36th event. He placed eighth in the 2011 World Championships at Deer Valley, Utah.
Zoricic is the second Canadian skier to die this season.
In January, 29-year-old freestyle skier Sarah Burke died following a training accident on a halfpipe in Utah.
Zoricic was a member of the Craigleith Ski Club in Ontario.
“I can’t believe this tragic news. Nick Zoricic has died? I’m sick to my stomach,” former Canadian Alpine racer Brian Stemmle wrote on Twitter.
U.S. racer Ted Ligety also posted a message of condolence for Zoricic on Twitter soon after winning a World Cup giant slalom race in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.
“Skiing is a great sport that gives but it also takes, sad day to lose Nick Zoricic, you’ll be missed bud,” Ligety wrote.
Grindelwald has been a venue on the skicross World Cup circuit since 2005. The Swiss village beneath the Eiger and Jungfrau mountain peaks was hosting a meet for the fifth straight year.
“We are all very sad. It is unbelievable for us all,” Christoph Egger, president of the race organizing committee, told The Associated Press by telephone. “We are an experienced organizer but, nevertheless, skicross is a sport where four racers fight to win a race. In these circumstances there is a risk to fall or risk of injury, and since today we know there is a risk for death.”
Egger said it was a “surprise” to see Zoricic’s line of flight off the jump, though “we put the fences there because you have to protect the racers for the finish area.”
Race organizers will work with FIS and the Swiss ski federation to analyze the accident and course security.
Egger said the process also requires an accident investigation by legal officers from the state of Bern.
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Comments (73)
txbigfoot
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 6:38pminteresting how only GB links to youtube are removed. Its ALL over youtube.
Report Post »Hypocrites@youtube.
thegreatcarnac
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 6:05pmEveryone has an allotted amount of time. If he had not been skiing that day…be would have probably slipped and fell and died in the bathtub.
Report Post »Exrepublisheep
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 6:19pmhhmmm
Report Post »DeVain
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 8:42pmThat’s probably the dumbest thing I ever read.
Report Post »LAR15
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 9:47pmOne lesson we can all take away is that this day could be our last, and you need to be ready to meet God.
Are you ready? The sin-cleansing blood of Jesus will make you ready.
Report Post »JJ Coolay
Posted on March 11, 2012 at 7:40amTheGreat… I think you may be right that we have only so much time, but I also think we have the ability to speed that up. I don’t think you can prolong your time, but you can shorten it. Many people die before their time doing things that are potentially dangerous. I don’t think this case is necessarily an exception. It’s not Darwin award stuff, but still, skiiing –and jumping at 30 or 40 MPH is certainly potentially life threatening.
Report Post »Mahdi Al-Dajjal
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 5:06pmAnd this isn’t a dangerous sport? Yet another death of somebody who strapped wax-coated planks to the bottom of his feet and then headed straight down the side of a mountain covered in snow and ice. You call them athletes.? Well, I call them idiots! Sorry, just was channeling Sonny Bono there for a brief moment.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 5:42pmIt’s just Freedom of Choice… where I do not have to feel sorry for some Silly Bugger who jumps off a Cliff!… but I do not want to Regulate it nor OutLaw it either!
Report Post »Miami
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 5:06pmRest in peace,
He died doing what he loved, we should all be so lucky…
Report Post »Exrepublisheep
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 6:20pmGood point.
Report Post »burnteye86
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 6:33pmHow does dying doing what you love make you lucky? You’re still dead.
Report Post »Miami
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 8:08pmFrom the point of view, of one that believes in God and the hereafter being a better place. He’s gone to be with the Lord, his time came and to go doing something you love compared to being tortured to death or a horrific slow painful death. I would believe going out happy would have to be a fortunate way to go.
I don‘t hurt for him but for the family and loved ones’ he has left behind, they will be in my prayers.
Report Post »RoyBaty
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 9:46pmI want to die by being shot by a jealous lover at 99.
Report Post »Miami
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 10:48pmRoyBaty
Don’t you have a four year life spand…?
“I’ve seen things you people would not believe
Report Post »attacked ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.
I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near
the Tannhäuser Gate.
All those moments will be lost in time
Like tears in rain,
Time to die”
Miami
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 11:30pmOops
Life span
Report Post »JJ Coolay
Posted on March 11, 2012 at 7:43amI guess you could call it lucky. But I dont want to die doing what I love if it means dying early.
Report Post »JJ Coolay
Posted on March 11, 2012 at 7:47amDang Roy…. 99 years worth of trying only to fall 1 year shy of the century mark? That’s just not fair!!
Report Post »lessoneleg
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 4:58pmF1, and NASCAR spend a pile of money improving fencing and race conditions so that injuries are limited. But I see open wide entanglement fencing and I wonder how in the heck is a human body travelling at high speed going to survive an injury just like that which killed the skier. He fell forward entangling his head into the mess and the forces of falling snapped his neck like a twig.
Report Post »SHOOTnCRASH
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 5:33pmyep, I‘m thinking that netting isn’t there and he’s still alive.
Report Post »shogun459
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 4:38pmvideo remove
Report Post »more content has been deleted or is not available,
wonder what’s up.
SoupSandwich
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 4:30pmCondolances to family and cannucks.
Report Post »Paul G
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 4:22pmVideo removed…..
Report Post »hatchetjob
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 6:02pmI wanted to see the video, what are they hiding?
Report Post »grandmaof5
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 3:24pmThis has been a very tragic year for Canada. Prayers and condolences for family and friends.
Report Post »SHOOTnCRASH
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 3:12pmIts this type of event. I love it but, skiing is individualistic and usually run for time. This three abroad at times is shoving a skier to areas he would avoid if alone.
Report Post »Robert-CA
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 3:26pmYou’re right basically he had nowhere else to go & with that speed he had zero chance to correct .
Report Post »R I P Nick .
Jubarnes87
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 3:01pmIt looks like the actual safety net got tangled around his head and snapped his neck, or that he hit the pole so hard it broke his spine, either way instant death. What a horrible say for his family.
Report Post »britttkdgirl
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 6:37pmIf it was instant, maybe it was without pain. We can only hope..
Report Post »May God bless him and his family and country
Jackie Rogers, Jr.
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 2:59pmIn the caption under the first picture the word, “reanimate”, is used. Seems kind of tasteless
Report Post »angelite49
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 3:39pmThat was my thought too. Who writes this stuff?
Also, the video has been pulled, apparently. Judging from the analysis here, it’s probably just as well.
Report Post »inblack
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 3:57pmMy guess is this is a foreign AP reporter translating to English.
Hardly is not used in a recognizable form either.
Report Post »Cemetery
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 2:49pmI thought safety netting was supposed to be, you know, safe?
Report Post »LeadNotFollow
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 3:09pm…
Report Post »I noticed that his head hit a hard packed hill of snow, after he hit the netting.
There should have been netting in front of it.
freedentstheone
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 3:18pmI thought the exact same thing, the phrase “killed by safety net” doesn’t jibe well. A tragedy to be sure but they know the risks of going that fast, at least he died doing something he loved.
Report Post »integrican
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 2:44pmA very sad day for him and his family, friends and fans.
Luckily there is no video of the 17.5 people who slipped and died in their bathtubs, this morning.
It is NOT how you die….it’s how you live!!!!
Report Post »LeadNotFollow
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 3:01pm…
Report Post »Also, the media never reports on the thousands who died today, from the FLU.
Sensationalism is the only thing the media reports on.
Netsurfer2
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 2:18pmIn this world there is not much time to live! Let us pray that he knew Jesus and that his family, friends get over his sudden passing! Let us remember to make a change for the good in life while we are here!
There are greater places than here and to be of this world will gain you nothing! It is said, no one comes to the father but through me (Jesus). It is easier for a poor man to go through the eye of the needle than it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven!
My condolences to his family and friends!
Report Post »Legal Immigrant
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 2:16pmI‘m not so sure it wasn’t right after the net when he went into the snowbank. The net gave way. JMO.
Report Post »dannyo
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 1:54pmthere is a risk of death in virtually any sport on earth, anything can happen, wish it wasn’t so, unfortunately it is..so sad for this skier and his family and all..may God be with you..
Report Post »AmazingGrace8
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 2:09pmAmen!
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 2:16pmOf course… one can Choose… to do something else.
Report Post »SilentReader
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 1:53pmTragic! My heartfelt condolences go to his family and friends! What a loss!
Report Post »KingCanon
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 1:46pmThoughts? Thoughts? Really?
Report Post »Whatever happened to the soothing
combination of THOUGHTS and PRAYERS?
woebegone
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 1:43pmTerrible, condolences to the family. What a horrible tragedy.
Report Post »IhaveOneToo
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 1:38pmI would have thought that obstacles after a jump would not be so close to the landing zone.
Report Post »sawbuck
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 1:37pmAnother adrenaline junkie flying to close to the sun.
Report Post »His friends will probably say , he died doing what he loved.
zman173rd
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 2:48pmI agree. It’s sad to lose anyone. This guy had many choices to make in life. His was fame and speed. Getting his name in lights. Being someone that other atheletes want to be like. Horrific? Horrible? Tragic? Seems those words get tossed out whenever anyone dies nowdays. Whitney Huston comes to mind. OVERDONE. He chose this “proffession” and he knew the risks. Sad yes. I didn‘t watch the video because I KNOW what’s going to happen. He’s gonna die. The Blaze is going the way of Sensationalism Journalism. Watch the man catch fire, watch the cars crash watch the woman be dragged into the police car watch the blah blah blah. I watch the funny ones cause I need the break. Watching the unfortunates’ in those situations that are beyond their control…. i dunno. In the end we’ll all be in the same line waiting our turn to tell the Almighty why we did what we did. HE might ask,” did you do that for me? “ Or he might say ”Man I saw that and you were flying high!! Up until …” I sure hope HE has a sense of humor cause my lifes’ been a whole lot of fun. “Up until…”
Report Post »COFemale
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 1:09pmGod rest his soul. This is so tragic.
Report Post »hcartexas
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 2:56pmTragic is a mother and child in a head on crash……. This is not tragic, its a risk that he took, and it didnt pay off.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 1:05pmLooks like a Bad Year for Skiers. Maybe, they should reevaluate the Risk & Consequences!
Report Post »BurntHills
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 1:03pmone more Death video we are not going to watch.
Report Post »