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The Week in Germany: Sports March 2, 2007 Death-Defying German Glider Back in the Sky
A German paraglider who earlier this month survived being frozen stiff
in minus 50-degree temperatures when she was sucked up to an altitude
higher than Mount Everest said Sunday that she would compete in this week's
world championships
in Australia. Ewa Wisnierska, 35, was unconscious for most of a 90-minute ride inside
a storm system that killed a fellow paraglider training for the championships
in the northern New South Wales town of Manilla. Her chances of surviving
what all paragliders fear were described as infinitesimal. The former world champion and favorite for the women's title said she
still had a chance of finishing on the podium despite frostbite and injuries
from tennis ball-sized hailstones. "The injuries are still not really recovered," she told US
national broadcaster ABC. "I also had to change the glider because
the one I flew is no longer flying correctly. So it's not so easy in two
days to change the mind, the glider and the body. It will not be easy,
but I will try." Polish-born Wisnierska passed out at 9,947 meters (32,635 feet) because
of lack of oxygen. Despite her clothes being frozen to her body and the
glider being caked in ice, she managed to bring it down safely. More than 150 pilots from 45 nations will compete in the 2007 Paragliding
World Championships, which started on February 22 and runs through March
9 in Manilla, Australia. (TWIG/dpa) |
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