Helmet camera 'clearly shows Michael Schumacher skiing normally' before accident

 
Waking: Michael Schumacher was in a medically-induced coma for a month
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Prosecutors investigating Michael Schumacher’s skiing accident which left him fighting for life said today they have been examining “perfectly clear” footage from a helmet camera of the moment before his crash.

Authorities in France said the footage showed the seven-time Formula 1 world champion skiing off-piste on a “very steep” slope before his skis hit a rock, throwing him forward.

The 45-year-old then hit his head on another rock, causing severe brain damage.

Footage of the incident continues to be studied by investigators and ski experts, who have also interviewed a number of witnesses.

At a press conference state prosecutor Patrick Quincy said it appeared Schumacher had been following safety rules, and that he was a “very good skier”.

French prosecutor Patrick Quincy, who is leading the inquiry into Michael Schumacher's skiing accident at the press briefing today
French prosecutor Patrick Quincy, who is leading the inquiry into Michael Schumacher's skiing accident, responds to journalists' questions during a press conference on January 8, 2014 at the courthouse of Albertville. Investigators probing Michael Schumac

He said: “He followed the red piste and went off piste. He is evidently an extremely good skier, but one of his skis hit a rock that was sticking out of the piste, causing him to fall and hit his head on a rock.

“The rock that he hit is eight metres from the piste. His position after he fell was nine metres from the piste. So we have examined the film that was realised from his helmet. It is perfectly clear and gave us a lot of information, confirming all of the information we already had. We use this film to create a reconstruction.”

He said the motor racing legend was doing some “tight slamming” down the slope, but not going faster that would be expected for a competent skier, adding his speed was not particularly relevant to their investigation.

“We cannot really say what speed he was going based on the injuries he received to his head.

“We will have to speak to experts about this. But to be honest, how fast he was going is not really important to our investigations at the moment.

“We know the state of the snow wasn’t great in that area [where Schumacher crashed] but I’m not really analysing that at the moment. We have around 50 serious accidents in the area every year, so we are used to doing these investigations.”

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He added: “There are some French rules and as far as we can see from the initial investigations it doesn’t look as though as he has broken these.”

Investigator Benoit Vinnemann said the video filmed from a camera inside Schumacher’s helmet shows “some completely normal behaviour from a good skier on this terrain”.

Seven-time world champion Schumacher was admitted to Grenoble University Hospital after hitting his head on a rock in the crash while on a family holiday in the French Alpine resort of Meribel 11 days ago.

The 45-year-old is in an artificially induced coma and has undergone two operations to remove blood clots and reduce swelling.

His condition is described as “critical but stable”.

Schumacher retired from F1 for a second time in 2012. He won the last of his seven world titles in 2004 and has 91 career race wins.

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