WENGEN, Switzerland (AP) — Austria’s ski federation says it will ask the sport’s ruling body to make an exception to the rules and allow Benjamin Raich to race the super-combined at the Sochi Olympics.
Persistent back problems have forced Raich to pull out of Friday’s World Cup super-combined in Wengen — the 2006 two-time gold medalist’s last chance of meeting the Olympic qualifying criteria set by the International Ski Federation.
Competitors need at least three World Cup downhill results since 2012 to be allowed to start, but Raich has just two — at Lake Louise in 2012 and at the Wengen super-combined last year.
The Austrians say they will ask the FIS to make an exception for Raich on medical grounds.
Raich is expected to start in slalom and giant slalom in Sochi.
