Austrian Olympic downhill champion Matthias Mayer underwent season-ending surgery on two broken vertebrae after his Saturday crash in a World Cup downhill in Val Gardena, Italy.
Mayer, 25, may have been spared worse injury thanks to a new airbag system that inflated inside his race suit to soften the crash landing on his backside.
It marked the first time an airbag inflated during a World Cup race, according to The Associated Press.
“It could have been much worse,” Mayer said in a press release.
Mayer had one podium finish in six World Cup speed races this season.