Death and three WAWC observations

I begin the season with how brutal engaging the mountains can be, for those who lose loved ones on the heights. These four young people’s deaths are neither more or less significant than another four. Within the context of this site, however, they are necessary to recognize. No other formalized sport’s contestants are so vulnerable to grave injury—not even auto sport, IMO. (Jockeys, if you consider horse racing. And motor cycle racing…those folks are truly eccentric.) Though I have no connection to these people, they remind me that death is not about the dead, but about the living who grieve and who will miss them, forever.

    I was disappointed that none of the approximately 80 active WAWC racers I follow on Instagram acknowledged Laura Dahlmeier’s fatal mountaineering accident in the Pakistani Karakoram. (28 July 2025, three weeks before her 32nd birthday. A retired racer who knew her posted a heartfelt tribute.) Though not an alpine racing competitor—she was a superb, dominate biathlete, then a remarkably driven mountaineer—Dahlmeier exemplified winter sport’s spirit through her humility, dedication, and accomplishment. (Highlights: 2 x Olympic gold medals; 7 x World Championship gold medals; 1 x Biathlon Overall WC) Those are not the most important nor the most meaningful things. From the videos and articles--personal interviews, biathlon, alpine trail running, mountaineering--I saw about her over the past few years, and from the comments since her death by people who know her, she is a kind, strong soul. Funny and playful. A great friend. In the vernacular, a really good egg. For whatever reason, her loss truly saddened me.

Matteo Franzoso – 25 years old. Sept 2025

Training in La Parva, Chile. Fell and went over or through safety netting (reports I saw are ambiguous) and hit his head on avalanche control fixture. Suffered severe brain injury and died two days later. World Cup competitor; Italian national Combined champion.

Matilde Lorenzi – 19 years old.  October 2024

Val Senales - Italian Junior Champion last season in the Overall standings and Super-G. Training in Val Senales, Italy. Traumatic brain injury from hitting piste head-first. Died within a day, in hospital.

Margot Simond – 18 years old. April 2025. Val d’Isere.  Training on “Alpine Park” course, a hybrid competition blending slalom and slopestyle. (New to me.) Sounds like she may have been killed almost instantly.

    Federica Brignone had a brilliant season, by any measure. IMO, she and Lara Gut-Behrami are the clear-cut “second best” multi-disciplinary WAWC competitors after Her Highness. And at 34, Fede epitomizes the rare WAWC racer who excels as her prime years wane. (Lara G-B is another.) Crashing and being badly injured on her season’s final run, at her country’s Championships—run primarily for national pride, with no international ranking/competition at stake—is heartbreaking and downright cruel. Also one of the sport’s integral, persistent risks. Injuries cannot be judged as more unjust or undeserved when compared between athletes who suffer them. But Brignone’s hideous leg injury seems really unfair: she should have basked in glory over the spring and eased back into summer training for one more WAWC season and for the Olympics at Cortina. As it now stands, returning to the circuit at a competitive level this season is a long shot.

    Mikaela Shiffrin can’t even get injured normally. Torn ACL? Tib/fib fracture? Broken ankle or wrist? No. Deep abdominal puncture wound from her ski pole. It was mentioned but not fully appreciated, I think, how much more serious it could have been. Her colon was spared by a half-inch or so; a lanced large intestine could have been fatal, as septic shock/peritonitis occurs rapidly. Yeow.

    Petra Vlhova’s WAWC career may be finished. Her right ACL, badly torn in January 2024 during a GS in Jasna, Slovakia, required a second major surgery this past March to alleviate persistent pain. Missed the entire 2024-25 season. A few weeks ago she began rudimentary descent/simple training on snow. Theoretically, her current basic goal is to contest Slalom at the Olympics…but I sense no one expects that to happen. Colossal bummer. Petra has been Mikaela’s most consistent slalom competitor. (She and Mikaela both crashed at home events—MS at Killington. Eurghh.)

Posted ten hours before Soelden. This site’s lapse since July 2024 parallels intensification of the clinical depression with which I’ve struggled for decades. Illness may be a reason for neglect; I’m trying to cease its being an excuse.

 Lacking pre-season team evaluations, I’ll engage the races as they occur and offer broader impressions/opinions along the way. Also fill in the national rosters. Speculate.

Enough self-pity. See next Feature, “2025-26 Overall and GS predictions” for a happier outlook.