Roland Collombin (†75): Ski Legend Has Died

Unforgettable is the Olympic downhill of 1972 in Sapporo, when he took silver behind his rival and later friend Bernhard Russi. During his active career, Collombin was considered the counterpart to Russi, who would later become a double Olympic champion in downhill.

Crashes and End of Career

Collombin earned his reputation as the «Enfant terrible» of Swiss skiing not only on the slopes. At the 1972 Olympic Games in Sapporo, where he surprisingly won silver behind Russi even before his first World Cup podium finish, police briefly jailed him after a night of drinking with ice hockey player Jacques Pousaz.

His career was marked by serious crashes. At the end of 1974, a sprained spine following a crash in Val d'Isère forced him to take a one-year break. A year later, he crashed at exactly the same spot, this time so severely that he broke two vertebrae in his back, was paralyzed for two days, and had to end his career at the age of 24. The site of the accident has since been known as «Bosse à Collombin.»

Farewell to a Ski Legend

Despite his serious injuries, Collombin later looked back on his life with surprising serenity. In 2018, he let it be known that he was doing better than ever, that he was currently experiencing the best years of his life. Speaking to the Blick newspaper, he said: «Da machte er noch einen relativ guten Eindruck.» Regarding his state of health, he added: «Er hat mir aber auch gesagt, dass er nun noch einen Versuch hat, um den Krebs zu besiegen.»

With Collombin, Switzerland has lost one of its most defining downhill skiers. His name is inseparably linked to the golden era of Swiss skiing, when he and Russi represented the country internationally in the World Cup and at the Olympics.