Georg Streitberger, Hannes Reichelt and Aksel Lund Svindal all crashed badly at the exact same corner on the notorious piste, the sharp left-hand turn immediately after a jump just before the traverse on the lower section of the course.
Streitberger and Svindal are both reportedly out for the rest of the season with the injuries they sustained.
Streitberger was the first of the three to go, the Austrian smashing through several of the barriers. He remained conscious throughout, but must have been in truly horrendous pain: later diagnosis in hospital confirmed a ruptured cruciate ligament - an injury which will almost certainly end his season.
Reichelt went down ten racers later and seemed to have the worst crash of the three as he was airlifted to hospital. Thankfully, however, it was only a precautionary measure, taken due to his previous back injuries, and he escaped with merely a bruised bone in his left knee that will keep him out for a couple of weeks.
Svindal, the current World Cup leader, was the last of the three to go - and the only one to get up and walk away.
He was taken to hospital for checks, however, and while nothing serious was originally suspected, German news agency that the superstar sustained a cruciate ligament rupture and a torn lateral meniscus. Svindal's season is almost certainly over.
As for the race itself? That was won by Italy's Peter Fill, and Beat Feuz and Carlo Janka finished in second and third place.
But all anyone was talking about was the crashes - even Fill himself.
"You always have to push your limits in Kitzbühel,” he said.
"I crashed here three years ago. Sometimes you finish and sometimes you don’t. It’s part of ski racing and something we all accept with any race we start.
"I hope the three guys will be back on tour quickly. You never want to see this happen, but unfortunately, some days it does."
Streitberger was the first of the three to go, the Austrian smashing through several of the barriers. He remained conscious throughout, but must have been in truly horrendous pain: later diagnosis in hospital confirmed a ruptured cruciate ligament - an injury which will almost certainly end his season.
Reichelt went down ten racers later and seemed to have the worst crash of the three as he was airlifted to hospital. Thankfully, however, it was only a precautionary measure, taken due to his previous back injuries, and he escaped with merely a bruised bone in his left knee that will keep him out for a couple of weeks.
Svindal, the current World Cup leader, was the last of the three to go - and the only one to get up and walk away.
He was taken to hospital for checks, however, and while nothing serious was originally suspected, German news agency that the superstar sustained a cruciate ligament rupture and a torn lateral meniscus. Svindal's season is almost certainly over.
As for the race itself? That was won by Italy's Peter Fill, and Beat Feuz and Carlo Janka finished in second and third place.
But all anyone was talking about was the crashes - even Fill himself.
"You always have to push your limits in Kitzbühel,” he said.
"I crashed here three years ago. Sometimes you finish and sometimes you don’t. It’s part of ski racing and something we all accept with any race we start.
"I hope the three guys will be back on tour quickly. You never want to see this happen, but unfortunately, some days it does."
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