Miraculous escape for skier as drone comes within inches of taking him out

Latest: The international ski federation has banned the use of camera drones from its World Cup races after a device crashed and nearly hit Austrian skier Marcel Hirscher during a slalom in Italy.

Tue, 22 Dec, 2015 - 23:24

By Stephen Barry

UPDATE (Dec 23, 1pm): The international ski federation has banned the use of camera drones from its World Cup races after a device crashed and nearly hit Austrian skier Marcel Hirscher during a slalom in Italy.

FIS men’s race director Markus Waldner said drones will be prohibited “as long as I am responsible... because they are a bad thing for safety”.

The unmanned flying object carrying a TV camera came down and shattered on the icy slope just behind Hirscher during Tuesday night’s race in Madonna di Campiglio.

The four-time overall champion was unhurt and continued his run, finishing second behind Norwegian winner Henrik Kristoffersen.

The company responsible for the camera drone, sports marketing agency Infront, said in a statement “the circumstances leading to (the crash) are currently being examined”.

Original story: People have taken a dislike to drones for a lot of reasons.

It's a fair complaint, too, going by this near-miss at Madonna di Campiglio, Italy, which is one of the scariest things we’ve seen.

The four-in-a-row World Cup-winning Austrian skier Marcel Hirscher was beginning his descent from the starting gate when a camera drone crashed into the snow behind him.

Hirscher seemed to take the close-call in his stride, posting this photo to Instagram with the caption, ‘Heavy air traffic in Italy #crazy #drone #crash #luckyme’.