Skiing: World champion skier dies

French ski champion Regine Cavagnoud died in hospital at Innsbruck last night, two days after sustaining severe brain damage in a high-speed training crash.

Cavagnoud's death is the highest profile mortality for years in a high-risk sport involving speeds of well over 100kph sometimes in poor visibility.

The 31-year-old world Super-G champion had been in a coma since colliding head-on with German coach Markus Anwander on a glacier on Monday.