Canadian Para skier to miss Winter Games after accident in Norway

When Kurt Oatway was getting ready for his second downhill training run in Lillehammer, Norway, the Para alpine skier didn't quite feel right in his seat.  

At that point he didn't know that he was about to head into "the most serious crash" of his sporting career, as he would later describe the accident on social media.

The whole trip to Norway seemed to be ill-fated from the start for the 2018 super-G Paralympic gold medallist. Oatway, a former University of Saskatchewan student, went to Europe for the 2022 World Championships in January.

His personal expectations were high for this event, given it was so close before the Paralympic Games in March 2022.

However, the trip turned out much differently. The problems started when Oatway landed in Norway.

"There was red flag after red flag of just everything going wrong," said the Para skier from Alberta.

There were complications entering Norway, his ski bags didn't show up and he had to borrow skis from the Australian team, he said.

It was "less than ideal of a circumstance," said 37-year-old Oatway.

"It is somebody else's stuff, it's set up a little bit differently. The flex is not quite what you're used to."

In the first training run of the downhill, Oatway crashed and shattered the seat of the sit ski, he said. While he remained unharmed then, he had to get a new seat.

"It's like ski racing in a pair of rental boots," he said.

"The seat just didn't fit right. It felt loose. I didn't feel connected or secure to my rig."

Despite the less-than-ideal situation, Oatway started his second downhill training run in Lillehammer on Jan. 12.

The devastating crash happened at the end of the course, when he was going about 80 to 90 km/h, with just about three or four gates to go, according to Oatway.