Austrian bobsled pilot Jakob Mandlbauer was taken off the course in a stretcher and subsequently hospitalized after his nearly 1,500 pound bobsled overturned during a Saturday, February 21, run at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
The crash occurred during the second heat of the four-man final. Mandlbauer’s three teammates — Daniel Bertschler, Sebastian Mitterer, and Daiyehan Nichols-Bardi — all walked away from the incident with no injury, while Mandlbauer, 27, remained immobilized in the wreckage.
Medics immediately came to his assistance and he was stretchered off the course and taken to a nearby hospital after about a 20-minute delay.
After the accident, Christoph Iglhauser, the Austrian team press attache, confirmed that Mandlbauer avoided any serious injury and was taken to the hospital for precautionary measures.
“Jakob is on his way to hospital,” Iglhauser told The Athletic. “He’s not so bad. It’s just a check. Everyone else is fine. No injury, only a check. He’ll be fine.”
The Austrian outlet Krone reported that Mandlbauer remained conscious throughout the incident and was able to move his arms, body and head, though he complained of neck pain. He was transported to the hospital for further evaluation while his other three teammates received treatment at the track.
Halfway through the run, Mandlbauer’s sled lost control and flipped over with all four athletes inside. The sled continued to roll down the course upside down, as the athletes tried to protect themselves as much as possible.
The crash also caused damage to the track, which volunteers had to fix before the event could continue.
“As a sliding community, we all want to see each other safe and healthy and being able to laugh and joke at the top of the track,” said broadcaster and former Olympic bobsled star John Jackson on the BBC. “Nobody likes to see athletes crashing and you know things aren’t right because the medics are taking a little bit longer to take them off the track.”
Pilot Jakob Mandlbauer, Daniel Bertschler, Sebastian Mitterer and Daiyehan Nichols-Bardi of Team Austria crash while competing in the Men’s Bobsleigh Four-man Heat 2 Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
According to Bild, a German outlet, Mandlbauer was taken to the Ca’ Foncello Hospital, the same location where U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn was treated when she broke her left tibia during her Olympic downhill event on February 8.
The 2026 Games marked Mandlbauer’s Olympic debut.
“I hope I can find a line that I can consistently ski four times,” Mandlbauer said prior to the Games, per Austrian outlet Kleine Zeitung. “If I can replicate my runs in the competition as well as in training, I’ll be very happy.”
Since Mandlbauer’s team didn’t cross the finish line in the sled, the group is officially out of the competition.
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The final runs will take place on Sunday, February 22.
“It is a dangerous sport,” Great Britain’s Greg Hackett said to BBC. “Thankfully the boys came back up to the changing rooms so his crew are OK. Jakob I think is in hospital but it seems he can move, he’s alright.”
He continued, “It’s a serious thing. We’re here to compete, that’s one thing, but we’re all mates, we all get along internationally so you never want to see anyone go down and their Olympic experience ending that way, no-one wants to see that either.”
There were two more crashes in Saturday’s second heat, with both the French and Trinidad & Tobago teams crashing out. In both cases, all four athletes walked back to the athlete area unscathed.