Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

SPORT

Injury leaves Austrian pole vaulter paralyzed

Austria’s leading pole-vaulter Kira Grünberg has been left paralyzed from the neck down after a serious injury during training on Thursday, her doctors have confirmed.

Published: 3 August 2015 10:28 CEST
Injury leaves Austrian pole vaulter paralyzed
Kira Grünberg. Photo: ORF Tirol

21-year-old Grünberg suffered severe cervical injuries after falling and landing beside the mat on her head and neck in a practice jump.

Despite having emergency surgery, her injuries have left her a paraplegic.

Her manager, Thomas Herzog, said there was little hope that she would recover any mobility. He added that Grünberg and her family have been informed of the extent of her injuries, and that she was “mentally very clear… and very brave”.

For now, she will remain in the intensive care unit at the University Clinic in Innsbruck, where she will receive the best medical care.

A statement from the Austrian athletics federation (ÖLV) and the University Clinic revealed “a fracture of the cervical vertebrae of the spine” had been found.

The statement added: “After we had diagnosed paraplegia before the operation, the patient received emergency surgery in order to stabilize her spine and avoid further damage.”

Trained by her father in Tyrol, Grünberg finished fourth at the 2012 junior world championships before going on to set an Austrian women's record of 4.45 meters during last year's outdoor European Championships in Zurich. She repeated that feat indoors in Prague in March 2015.

The Austrian Association of Athletics Federations has announced that it is providing a €10,000 emergency fund for Grünberg, and the Tyrolean Athletics Federation has set up a donation account in her name.

CLIMATE CRISIS

Austria ‘likely to be ice-free within 45 years’

Austria is set to become largely "ice-free" within 45 years, the country's Alpine Club warned Friday, as two of its glaciers last year melted by more than 100 metres.

Published: 6 April 2024 12:17 CEST
Austria 'likely to be ice-free within 45 years'

Amid growing concerns over the effects of extreme warming on glaciers around the world, the latest report by the Austrian Alpine Club (OeAV) showed that rapid glacial retreat over the past seven years had accelerated.

The study found that 93 Austrian glaciers observed by the organisation retreated by 23.9 metres (78.4 feet) on average last year, marking the third-biggest glacier melt since measurements began in 1891.

Two of the glaciers showed especially drastic declines, with the Pasterze shrinking by 203.5 metres and the Rettenbachferner by 127 metres.

The 2023 readings came after the worst year on record for glacier melt in Austria, with glaciers shrinking by 28.7 metres (94.2 feet) on average in 2022.

Faced with extreme warming in the Alps, glacial ice in Austria could largely disappear within 45 years, the Alpine Club warned, adding that restrictive climate protection measures were introduced too late.

“In 40 to 45 years, all of Austria will be pretty much ice-free,” Andreas Kellerer-Pirklbauer, head of the Alpine Club’s glacier measurement service, told reporters on Friday.

The OeAV urged increased protection of glaciers as part of overall efforts to sustain biodiversity, noting that expansions of ski resorts had put Alpine regions “under constant pressure”.

According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), major glaciers worldwide suffered the largest loss of ice since records began in 1950, “driven by extreme melt in both western North America and Europe”.

In Switzerland, where the WMO is based, Alpine glaciers have lost 10 percent of their volume in the past two years alone.

SHOW COMMENTS