Crans-Montana, another young man dies
The number of victims of the devastating New Year’s Eve fire in Crans-Montana rises to 41. An 18-year-old Swiss youth, who was hospitalized in Zurich, died on Saturday, the Valais Public Ministry announced in a statement.
It is the first time since the day of the tragedy that the death toll in the “Le Constellation” bar fire has unfortunately been updated. The prosecutor’s office made it clear that, at the current stage of the investigation, no further information will be released, as indicated in the brief statement made public earlier this afternoon.
The controversy over Friday morning’s downhill at Crans-Montana, which was interrupted for safety reasons by FIS after six athletes, three of whom (Nina Ortlieb, Marte Monsen and Lindsey Vonn) were victims of nasty falls, departed. Under indictment was the conformation of the downhill, which was deemed too dangerous even in light of the weather and visibility conditions for a race that came just one week before the start of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games.
There was no shortage of fierce criticism from industry insiders over a controversy that, among other things, related not only to the race itself but also to the context that failed to fulfill the promise of sobriety made on the eve of the event. Sabrina Gandolfi, who follows the World Cup races for Rai from the studio, did not mince words on social media: “How on earth do you put a downhill (especially of the kind) a week before the Olympics? Let us draw a veil over the blaring music in the stands area not even a month after the Constellation tragedy. No comment”. Gandolfi, in the same post, applauded instead Peter Gerdol, race director of the women’s circuit, who made the decision not to continue downhill after the third fall.
“La Repubblica” which had a correspondent in the Canton Valais resort, had reported on the matter that many companies linked to promoting the World Cup event had not heeded the international federation’s call banning sponsor-related side events. At the finish, in fact, gazebos, promotional flags, free gadgets, music and product sales were seen. All decidedly far from what was desired to honor the victims of the New Year’s Eve tragedy.
