By Patrick Vignal
WHISTLER (Reuters) - Australian Craig Branch narrowly missed colliding with a course worker near the finish of his run in the men's Olympic downhill Monday.
The worker stumbled, lost a ski pole and failed to leave the Dave Murray piste before Branch came hurtling toward the finish area.
"Obviously, it was super dangerous, not only for him but also for me," Branch told reporters. "If we had collided, there would have been a huge risk of a major injury."
"It's scary but it can happen," he added. "Luckily nothing serious happened. I'm sure they will look into it."
Branch finished 34th, nearly three seconds behind Swiss winner Didier Defago.
"It has already been investigated and it's no big scandal, it happens," men's race organizer Guenther Hujara told Reuters when asked about the incident.
"When the course crew guy slipped, it was too late to stop racer 39 (Branch) but the next racer was flagged so there was no other racer on the course," he added.
"It was decided to let racer 39 go to the finish because he was already very low. It looked scary but nothing happened.
"We are working on that, clearly, and it should not happen but you need these people to have the course in good shape and those things can happen at a moment when it is almost impossible to act. The guy just fell."
(Editing by Jon Bramley)
