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The death of 25-year-old Matteo Franzoso during training in La Parva, Chile, has plunged the Italian national ski team into mourning and reignited debate over safety standards in elite alpine racing. Franzoso, a member of the Fiamme Gialle group who grew up skiing in Sestriere, lost control on a training run September 15, broke through two layers of B-netting, and struck a wooden fence used as a wind barrier. He succumbed to severe head trauma a day later in a Santiago hospital, just one day before what would have been his 26th birthday.
- Related: Italian Ski Racer Succumbs to Injuries After Training Crash in Chile, 1 Day Before his 26th Birthday
It is the third fatal training accident in the Italian squad in 12 months, after the death of 19-year-old Matilde Lorenzi, a promising giant slalom skier who lost her life in October 2024 following a fall during training in Schnalstal/Val Senales, Italy. Earlier this year, 18-year-old Marco Degli Uomini, also died after a training crash in the Zoncolan area in the Carnic Alps in Italy.
Former Italian slalom specialist Paolo De Chiesa, who competed in three Olympics between 1976 and 1984, and is a regular race commentator on Italian TV station RAI, posted a video criticizing what he described as a “lack of safety parameters” in training. “In the World Cup these things do not happen because the slopes are super protected. But what is the difference between a World Cup race and training?” he asked. De Chiesa, 69, urged the Italian Ski Federation (FISI) to “take three steps back” and reassess its training practices.
De Chiesa had also spoken out after Lorenzi’s death at Val Senales, where the official explanation was that she struck her head on hard ice. He publicly questioned whether that account was complete, suggesting she may have collided with another skier or object, suggesting that “otherwise the glacier would be an open-air cemetery.” Lorenzi’s parents launched a safety campaign in her memory, but de Chiesa rightfully points out that Franzoso’s death shows little has changed and that something is seriously amiss in the Italian Alpine Team.
The chorus of concern has extended beyond former racers. Federiga Bindi, an Italian-American adjunct professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder and certified Alpine ski coach, described Franzoso’s crash as “yet another elite athlete killed in training by impacting with a large wooden fence that should never have been there.” In a strongly worded statement, she called for FIS, the International Ski Federation, to revoke homologation from slopes with dangerous features and demanded greater accountability from both resorts and coaches.
Bindi cited her own experience from July this year in nearby El Colorado, where she had argued in the team captains’ meeting for the giant slalom races to lower the start. She saw it as her responsibility for the safety of her athletes due to unsafe conditions on the slope from rocks on the course and wooden fences too close to the course. “Several coaches were unhappy because ‘with a shorter slope it will be hard to make points,’ as if potential injuries—or deaths like in this case—were not relevant,” she wrote in a long message on her LinkedIn account. The race start was however, successfully moved down the next morning—thanks to her speaking up and the technical delegate verifying the unsafe conditions.
Bindi also criticized the poor quality of safety nets, “Those B-nets are a joke, at the very least there should have been an A-Net plus at least two B-Nets,” she pointed out—as is standard in World Cup races in courses next to dangerous structures or features on the slope. She appealed to other athletes to speak up: “If you want to honor Matteo’s death, staying silence is not the way. You only honor him by making sure this time is the last time for real and the only way is to hold those who are responsible accountable.”
The family of late downhill racer Elena Fanchini, who died of cancer in 2023, issued a statement that echoed growing frustration. “Now, proclamations and fine words are no longer enough; now is the time to stop, reflect, bring the entire system together and find solutions,” they wrote. “The time of ‘it was fate’ and ‘we’ve always been lucky’ is over, and continuing to believe this makes us all guilty of what happened in this terrible year. Out of respect for Franz and Mati, it’s time to put SAFETY before every decision.”
Franzoso’s teammates, many of whom were present in La Parva for a September training block, are reeling from the tragedy and many have not trained since the tragic accident. Franzoso had been training alongside Italy’s leading downhillers, including Dominik Paris, Florian Schieder, and Mattia Casse, when the accident occurred. Veteran speed specialist Christof Innerhofer, a World Cup winner and Olympic medalist, has already announced he will no longer train at the Chilean resort and will instead return to Italy. Speaking to Italian sports journalist Gabriele Pezzaglia, Innerhofer said, “I am shocked. All this is unacceptable and the pain is too strong.” Also returning home is Benjamin Alliod, who is the same age as Franzoso, and had been close friend with his teammate. “I am at a loss for words,” the 25-year-old wrote. “One moment we’re at the starting gate, joking, and the next you are gone.”
The death of Franzoso—coming on the heels of Lorenzi and de Uomini—has left the Italian Alpine program facing a reckoning. Critics are asking whether training safety has lagged behind the protections in place for World Cup races, where rows of A-nets and B-nets as well as padding around hard obstacles on the side of the race course are standard. They argue that young skiers, racing for points and development in less controlled environments, face unnecessary risk.
For now, FISI has promised support for Franzoso’s family and teammates, but pressure is mounting for systemic reform. Whether the Italian federation, FIS, coaches, and host resorts will act to overhaul safety standards remains to be seen. The crisis could not come at a worse time, with Italy due to host the 2026 Olympics in under five months.
The major problem in Alpine ski racing is not netting. That was negligence in this case not to put up three levels of b-net. The major problem in Alpine ski racing is, watered slopes. Racers are now skiing on an ice skating rinq on a steep angle. The margin of error is now so fine it is causing crashes and resulting in more concussions, more severe leg and knee injuries.
Alpine ski racing is supposed to be a natural environment sport and some conditioning of the slopes to allow more fairness from first to last racer is good, but it has gone way too far. Injected slopes were much grippier while still offering a harder wearing surface. Fire hosing the slope just creates a glass hard and greasy surface that is dangerous.
Even at the WC level watching racers, the ice is creating nervous skiing performances.
FIS needs to pull this back, stop fire hosing.and restore safety
Exactly this. Bravo. Skiing is not ice skating. Stop injected slopes.