BORMIO, Italy (AP) — French standout Cyprien Sarrazin was in intensive care with a head injury and will undergo surgery after a crash during training for a World Cup downhill race on Friday on the slope set to be used for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Sarrazin, who won the downhill in Bormio last year, was one of two skiers airlifted to a hospital after crashing and the French ski federation said he was conscious but diagnosed with a subdural hematoma — bleeding near the brain.
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Italy's Pietro Zazzi is lifted by medical staff to an helicopter after crashing during an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill training, in Bormio, Italy, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
France's Cyprien Sarrazin is airborn during an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill training, in Bormio, Italy, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
France's Cyprien Sarrazin speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill training, in Bormio, Italy, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
Medical staff are lifting France's Cyprien Sarrazin to an helicopter after crashing into protections net during an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill training, in Bormio, Italy, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)
Medical staff are helping France's Cyprien Sarrazin after crashing during an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill training, in Bormio, Italy, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)
Medical staff are carrying France's Cyprien Sarrazin after crashing into protections net during an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill training, in Bormio, Italy, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)
Shortly afterward, it gave another update saying that Sarrazin will undergo surgery later Friday.
“Following further examinations, as well as Cyprien’s evolving clinical examination, it has been decided in agreement with the Italian surgeons to operate on Cyprien this evening in order to drain the subdural haematoma,” the federation said in a statement.
Pietro Zazzi of Italy was also taken to a hospital by helicopter after a crash. The Italian ski federation said he has “a compound fracture of the tibia and fibula of his right leg” and was on his way to Milan, where he will undergo surgery on Saturday.
The incidents called into question the safety of the fearsome Stelvio slope — the course for next winter’s Milan-Cortina Olympics.
“My opinion here is clear, it’s that they don’t know how to prepare a course,” Sarrazin’s teammate Nils Allègre said. “It’s been 40 years that they have been preparing courses, but they don’t know how to do anything, apart from dangerous things.
“Maybe it’s not something everyone agrees with but it’s my opinion and it’s deep-seated. It’s not right, I don’t know what they’re trying to prove, but a year ahead of organizing the Olympics, having a course like this — they don’t deserve to have the Olympic Games here.”
Swiss skier Josua Mettler also crashed on Friday and was on his way back to Switzerland for further tests on a knee injury.
Race director Omar Galli told The Associated Press that the organizers have “significantly upgraded safety features” and will further enhance those for the Olympics.
He rejected claims the slope hadn't been well prepared.
“I would invite him (Allègre) to come here just in the past 10 days, fortnight and see what happens from 5 a.m. until 8 p.m., when there's wind, when there's rain and see how we manage to resolve things,” Galli said.
“Everyone has their own opinion and it should be respected because at the end it's the athletes who race. But probably if we asked 70 athletes we would probably end up with 70 different courses, maybe not 70 but at least 66. What's the middle point is up to us but it could be right for one and wrong for another.”
Sarrazin, who was fastest in the first training session the previous day, was on course for another good time in Friday’s second run when he appeared to hit a bump and lost control as he was catapulted into the air, landing on his back and sliding a long way down before being brought to a halt by the safety netting on the side.
“There is also human error, like in every outdoor sport, the equipment,” Galli added. “Both today’s injuries, Sarrazin's and Zazzi’s, came when they caught an edge.
“Then the wind also plays a determining factor (in preparation), the temperature too. A thousand external things that aren't controllable by us, that's for sure. You can not like it, it can seem difficult, but it's difficult to understand how you can say it's never prepared well when you know the work that goes into making the impossible possible.”
The 30-year-old Sarrazin enjoyed his best campaign on the World Cup circuit last season with four victories — three downhill and one super-G — but has yet to win in 2024-25.
Canadian Cameron Alexander led Friday’s training session, ahead of Switzerland’s Stefan Rogentin and Stefan Babinsky of Austria. There is a downhill scheduled for Saturday and a super-G on Sunday.
“We know the Stelvio,” Galli said. “It's not by chance that it's alluded to as, if not the most difficult, then certainly among the most difficult.”
Also on Friday, Swiss skier Yannick Chabloz announced his retirement at the age of 25, two years after a brutal crash on the Stelvio, in what proved to be his last race.
The men’s Alpine skiing events at the 2026 Olympics will take place in Bormio, while the women’s will be held in Cortina d’Ampezzo. The two ski areas are separated by a five-hour car ride.
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Italy's Pietro Zazzi is lifted by medical staff to an helicopter after crashing during an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill training, in Bormio, Italy, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
France's Cyprien Sarrazin is airborn during an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill training, in Bormio, Italy, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
France's Cyprien Sarrazin speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill training, in Bormio, Italy, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
Medical staff are lifting France's Cyprien Sarrazin to an helicopter after crashing into protections net during an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill training, in Bormio, Italy, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)
Medical staff are helping France's Cyprien Sarrazin after crashing during an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill training, in Bormio, Italy, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)
Medical staff are carrying France's Cyprien Sarrazin after crashing into protections net during an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill training, in Bormio, Italy, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)
Remember this moment because it probably won't last: A U.S. lottery jackpot soared above $1 billion, and that's still a big deal.
After three months without anyone winning the top prize, a ticket worth an estimated $1.22 billion was sold in California for the drawing Friday night. The high number evoked headlines and likely lured more people to convenience stores with dreams of private spacewalks above the Earth.
It doesn't seem to matter that the nation's top 10 jackpots, not including Friday, already boasted 10-figure payouts. For many of us, something stirs inside when a number ticks one dollar above $999,999,999.
“The question lurking is, what happens when $1 billion becomes routine and people don’t care about it anymore?” said Jonathan D. Cohen, author of the 2022 book “For a Dollar and a Dream: State Lotteries in Modern America.”
“There's no easy round number after a billion,” Cohen said. "But also, how much money can one person possibly, possibly, possibly need?”
Mega Millions ticket prices are set to rise from $2 to $5 in April. The increase will be one of many changes that officials say will result in improved jackpot odds, more frequent giant prizes and even larger payouts.
Here's brief history of lotteries and why jackpots are growing:
Cohen notes in his book that lotteries have existed in one form or another for more than 4,000 years.
In Rome, emperors and nobles held drawings at dinner parties and awarded prizes that ranged from terra cotta vases to people who were enslaved. As early as the 1400s, lotteries were used in Europe to fund city defenses and other public works.
Sweepstakes were common in the American colonies, helping to pay for the revolution against Britain. Cohen noted in his book that Thomas Jefferson approved of lotteries, writing that they were a tax “laid on the willing only.”
Lotteries began to fall out of favor in the U.S. in the 1800s because of concerns over fraud, mismanagement and impacts on poor people. But starting in the 1960s, states began to legalize them to help address financial shortfalls without raising taxes.
“Lotteries were seen as budgetary miracles, the chance for states to make revenue appear seemingly out of thin air,” Cohen wrote.
When Mega Millions started in 1996, it was called “The Big Game” and involved only six states. It was meant to compete with Powerball, which then had 20 states and the District of Columbia.
The original payout for The Big Game started at $5 million. The value would be nearly twice that today accounting for inflation.
In 2024 dollars, the before-taxes prize could buy a rare copy of the U.S. Constitution or cover Michael Soroka's $9 million contract to pitch next season for the Washington Nationals.
By contrast, the pre-tax winnings from Friday’s Mega Millions prize could theoretically buy a Major League Baseball team. The Nationals would be too expensive. But Forbes recently valued the Miami Marlins at $1 billion.
A better comparison might be Taylor Swift's tour revenue at the end of 2023. Her Eras Tour became the first to earn more than $1 billion after selling more than 4 million tickets.
Swift, however, was expected to bring in a total of more than $2 billion when her tour finally wrapped up Dec. 8, according to concert trade publication Pollstar.
These days, Mega Millions and its lottery compatriot Powerball are sold in 45 states, as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Powerball also is sold in Puerto Rico.
In October, Mega Millions said it hoped increased ticket revenue and less stratospheric odds would lead to more people winning, even as prizes grow extraordinarily high.
Games with massive payouts tend to be more popular despite the slimmer odds. Larger jackpots also attract more media attention, increase ticket sales and bring in new players, Cohen said.
Lottery officials have allowed the odds to become lower with a larger pool of numbers to pick from, Cohen said. And that has made games harder to win, leading to payouts rolling over into even larger prizes.
The first $1 billion jackpot was in 2016. Cohen said he expects the upward trajectory to continue.
Meanwhile, he warned against the tropes of the troubled or bankrupt lottery winner.
A well-known example is Andrew “Jack” Whittaker Jr. He won a record Powerball jackpot after buying a single ticket in 2002 but quickly fell victim to scandals, lawsuits and personal setbacks as he endured constant requests for money, leaving him unable to trust others.
Most winners don't turn out like him, Cohen said.
“Even if we deny it, we all sort of believe in the meritocracy — this belief that if you won your money through luck, then you probably didn’t actually deserve it,” Cohen said. And yet various studies have shown “lottery winners are happier, healthier and wealthier than the rest of us.”
A digital Mega Millions ticket is seen on a screen as a person makes their selections on a self-serve terminal inside a gas station ahead of Friday's Mega Millions drawing of $1.15 billion, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
A person makes their lottery ticket selections on a self-serve terminal inside a gas station ahead of Friday's Mega Millions drawing of $1.15 billion, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
A person retrieves a Mega Millions lottery ticket from a self-serve terminal ahead of Friday's Mega Millions drawing of $1.15 billion, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
A person inserts cash into a self-serve terminal while holding their play slip ahead of Friday's Mega Millions drawing of $1.15 billion, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Rob holds up a Mega Millions ticket at Rossi's Deli in San Francisco, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
A person fills out a Mega Millions play slip ahead of Friday's Mega Millions drawing of $1.15 billion, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Rob, right, buys a Mega Millions ticket at Rossi's Deli in San Francisco, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Rina Flores, middle, works behind the counter over a sign advertising the estimated $1.15 billion Mega Millions jackpot, bottom right, at Rossi's Deli in San Francisco, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
A pedestrian walks behind a sign advertising the estimated $1.15 billion Mega Millions jackpot at Rossi's Deli in San Francisco, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Oscar Flores, left, works behind the counter next to a sign advertising the estimated $1.15 billion Mega Millions jackpot at Rossi's Deli in San Francisco, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
A Mega Millions lottery ticket is displayed at a store on Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, in Tigard, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
Fidel Lule buys a MegaMillion lottery ticket at Won Won Mini Mart in Chinatown Los Angeles, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
The option to play the $1.15 billion Mega Millions jackpot is seen on a self-serve terminal inside a gas station in Baltimore, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
