World Cup slalom almost goes downhill
Over the last few years there has been a marked increase in the uses for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones. Far from being the domain of the high-tech military application, UAVs are now being employed to fulfil a weird and wonderful array of functions, from the planned delivery services for Amazon and Google, to assisting with industrial scale reforestation in Latin America and shark detecting in New South Wales, Australia.
However, they have once again made their mark in the sporting arena for all the wrong reasons. Earlier in the year a remote controlled drone bearing a pro-Albania/Kosovo insignia was flown into the stadium during a World Cup Qualifying football match between Albania and Serbia. A mass brawl ensued between players, staff and supporters, forcing the game to be abandoned (relations between the two countries have been strained since the war of the late 1990s which ultimately led to Kosovo declaring independence from Serbia in 2008. The majority of Kosovans are ethnic Albanians).
This week a drone caused chaos at the skiing World Cup slalom in Italy when it narrowly missed a collision with four-time World Cup champion Marcel Hirscher. The camera drone crashed into the slope, inches away from the 26 year old Austrian who was on his second run of the event at Madonna di Campiglio.
Although he was unharmed and initially oblivious to the incident, Hirscher commented after the event, “This is horrible. This can never happen again. This can be a serious injury.”
Image taken from www.lastampa.it.
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