Of course he is, any moron could see that was an unsafe design. 100, 200 athletes,, whatever the number are left with a track that is designed like crap.
Telling him to withdraw if he thinks the track is a menace is ridiculous, why is it so unreasonable to expect the equipment be up to modern standards? Why shouldnt the designer be held responsible for his design?
I bet if a highway had an obviously dangerous flaw in the design, you wouldnt dismiss the death of a friend by saying,,”it’s all on the driver”, he could have stayed home”
Well said. Some here have suggested that ‘he knew the risks’. Actually, he probably didn’t know the risks at all. He likely had very good understanding of issues such as how tight the turns were, the angle of embankment, the speeds, g forces etc. He also knew the risks of falling off a sled at nearly 100 mph and rattling around in an icy track until he slowed down and hence what kind of protective equipment was appropriate. What he would have no concept of was the answer to a simple question of ‘was it physically possible for him to leave the confines of the track.’ There certainly has been no indication that the only people that should be lugers are also degreed mechanical engineers who have personally done all their own engineering calculations and verifications on the matter. In that sense, I don’t view this any different that a person who goes to a water park and when they go down that slide for the first time, they assume that somebody has designed it so that it is absolutely physically impossible for them to go around a corner and fly off into never never land.