Swiss number 1 Michael Vogt will not take part in the World Cup final in Altenberg, Germany.
Image: Keystone
On February 13, 2024, Sandro Michel, the best Swiss pusher at the time, suffered life-threatening injuries in an accident with Vogt's sled in Altenberg.
Image: Keystone
Sandro Michel at a media appointment during his rehabilitation in Bellikon in March 2024.
Image: Keystone
The Swiss pusher suffered serious injuries to his chest and pelvic area in the accident and had to undergo several emergency operations in Dresden.
Image: Keystone
The 29-year-old from Aargau is back in training after almost two years of rehab and is keen to get back into bobsleigh.
Image: Keystone
Swiss number 1 Michael Vogt will not take part in the World Cup final in Altenberg, Germany.
Image: Keystone
On February 13, 2024, Sandro Michel, the best Swiss pusher at the time, suffered life-threatening injuries in an accident with Vogt's sled in Altenberg.
Image: Keystone
Sandro Michel at a media appointment during his rehabilitation in Bellikon in March 2024.
Image: Keystone
The Swiss pusher suffered serious injuries to his chest and pelvic area in the accident and had to undergo several emergency operations in Dresden.
Image: Keystone
The 29-year-old from Aargau is back in training after almost two years of rehab and is keen to get back into bobsleigh.
Image: Keystone
Two years have passed since the life-threatening accident involving Swiss pusher Sandro Michel in Altenberg. Michael Vogt is boycotting the World Cup in Germany because safety is not good enough.
17.01.2026, 04:01
17.01.2026, 07:39
SDA
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Two years after Sandro Michel's serious bobsleigh accident, pilot Michael Vogt criticizes the lack of safety progress and boycotts the World Cup race in Altenberg.
- Those responsible for the track refer to measures that have already been implemented and planned. However, absolute safety is not possible.
- The safety solutions are also based on Formula 1.
The images shocked the sporting world in February 2024. After Michael Vogt's four-man bobsleigh crashed during training, the push athlete Sandro Michel was thrown from the sled and the vehicle, which was sliding back from the uphill finishing straight, crashed into the unconscious Michel, critically injuring him.
Two years later, little has changed in terms of safety - too little for Michael Vogt. The man from Schwyz is boycotting the last World Cup race before the Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo this weekend in Altenberg. "I'm not racing on a track where one of our pushers almost died and nothing has changed since then," Vogt told Blick. For the pilot, the reappraisal is still insufficient two years later, as fallen sledges can still slide back into the finish curve from the ascending finish run.
"There can be no one hundred percent guarantee"
For Altenberg's track manager Jens Morgenstern, however, this does not correspond to reality. After three major safety conferences with experts from many areas, "concrete measures have been implemented or initiated", he told the German Press Agency.
For the World Cup, "additional and specially trained personnel will be available in the run to prevent a fallen bobsleigh from sliding back. However, there can be no one hundred percent guarantee - neither in Altenberg nor anywhere else," Morgenstern emphasized. At the same time, he referred to a restraint system being developed at the Ifosa Institute with Jochen Buck and the German Bobsleigh and Luge Association (BSD).
New belt system to protect pushers
A new belt system was also recently tested in Altenberg. It could be used from the coming season, once it has been approved by the IBSF. The Allianz Center for Technology (AZT), which is responsible for occupant safety in the automotive industry, developed it after analyzing the individual positions in the bobsleigh.
"In terms of safety, the current bobsleds are comparable to open-top cars from the 1960s," said Carsten Reinkemeyer, Head of Safety Research at the AZT. A holistic safety concept is therefore needed: with protection for the head, prevention of ejection after a fall, the ability to brake the bobsleigh and improved protective clothing with helmets.
The solutions must be designed in such a way that they can be adapted to all existing bobsleighs. "A harness system has proven to be the best solution for the brakeman, where the athlete jumps into an already open harness loop and it then automatically wraps around their pelvis. In the event of a fall, the athlete can thus be held in the sled," said AZT engineer Markus Beischl.
Serious injuries to the chest and pelvic area, such as those suffered by the Swiss athlete Michel, who had to undergo several emergency operations in Dresden, could thus have been prevented. Only the rapid intervention of the track doctor and the emergency doctors who rushed to the scene by helicopter saved Michel's leg and, above all, his life. The pusher is back in training after almost two years of rehabilitation and is keen to get back in the bobsleigh.
Roll bar like in Formula 1
To prevent head injuries in the event of a fall, a rollover system has also been developed, just like in Formula 1. A design solution for the safety cell is currently being developed together with the Institute for Research and Development of Sports Equipment (FES) in Berlin. "The HIP - Head Impact Protection system - is not a final version. It's about making the head area around the safety cell, from the pilot's head to the push bars, safer," said Ronny Hartnick, Deputy FES Director, at the presentation in November 2025.
