WENGEN, SWITZERLAND -- Downhill star Aleksander Aamodt Kilde crashed hard into the fences within sight of the finish in the long Lauberhorn race in the World Cup on Saturday and seemed to have injured his right leg before being airlifted to a hospital.
For the second straight day at Wengen, a former men's overall World Cup champion was carried away by helicopter from Switzerland's most storied ski venue.
On Friday, French star Alexis Pinturault went into a tumbling crash on landing a jump in a super-G race. The 2021 World Cup champion, who became a father for the first time last weekend, ruptured the ACL in his left knee.
Kilde was the 2020 champion before Pinturault and is the long-time partner of American ski star Mikaela Shiffrin.
He had lengthy treatment as he lay flat next to the finish line and race workers strapped his right leg above the knee. A helicopter landed in the finish area to carry Kilde away to a hospital.
Racers injured at Wengen -- an elevated ski resort reached by a cog railway that starts lower down the mountain -- are typically flown to a hospital in Interlaken.
Kilde was racing in a speed event for the third straight day at Wengen -- an unusual demand on the men's World Cup calendar because a downhill was cancelled last month at Beaver Creek, Colorado.
The 31-year-old Norwegian had been fighting an illness before placing third in a shorter downhill on Thursday and third again in a super-G on Friday.
"Again, it's a bad feeling like with Alexis yesterday," French racer Cyprien Sarrazin, who was second Thursday and won the super-G Friday, told Swiss broadcaster RTS.
"It's three days of racing here and we finish with the longest (race). Three days is really hard physically," said Sarrazin, who had the second-fastest time behind leader Marco Odermatt.
Kilde was unbalanced on his skis approaching the final twisting S-shaped section about two minutes, 10 seconds into a tiring run, then made another error entering the left-hand turn down into the finish.
He was launched off his skis and twisted in mid-air before crashing backward into course-side safety fences.
Kilde has been a top downhill racer for several years, with two wins in the marquee discipline at Wengen. He is a two-time champion in the season-long World Cup downhill standings.
The race Saturday was being led by Swiss star Odermatt with Sarrazin in second place. They were almost 1 1/2 seconds faster than any rival.
Odermatt put his hands to his head when he saw Kilde's crash about 80 metres (yards) from where he stood in the course-side leader's box.
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