The dangers of being an elite athlete are nothing new to Chemmy Alcott. During her 20-year career, the Brit entered each Winter Olympics from Salt Lake City (2002) through Sochi (2014). Later she got into broadcasting and was a regular face on BBC Sport. However, on August 13, 2026, the 44-year-old was taking a holiday with her family in Annecy, France, when everything she had hoped for became a trip to the hospital.

Alcott was spending time with her family around Lake Annecy when she decided to attempt a front flip from a five-metre platform into the water. The former skier appeared to be taking part in the jump simply for fun. However, the attempt did not go as planned. Alcott misjudged her rotation while in the air and landed heavily in the water. She later explained that she had badly timed the front flip, leading to a hard landing.

At first, she did not realize that she had suffered a serious injury. Instead, Alcott initially thought she had simply been winded by the impact. She later revealed that embarrassment also played a role in what happened next. Rather than immediately treating the failed jump as a serious incident, she went back up to the platform and jumped again because she did not want to make a big deal out of the first attempt.

It was after that that Alcott realized she was not breathing properly. She eventually went to the hospital, where doctors discovered that she had suffered a collapsed lung. The injury required a chest drain, and Alcott spent several nights in hospital instead of continuing with the family holiday. Alcott later shared the experience with her followers on Instagram, posting a video that showed her attempting the front flip before cutting to footage of her in hospital.

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In the images, she could be seen wearing a hospital gown with medical equipment attached to her. Despite the frightening experience, Alcott kept a lighthearted tone while describing what happened. “Most people badly time a front flip off a five-meter platform and get winded,” she said. “I apparently don’t do things by halves. Collapsed lung, chest drain and a very expensive lesson in rotation.”

She also joked about the unexpected change to her holiday plans. “Turns out 5 metres is quite a long way to discover you’ve got the rotation wrong,” Alcott wrote. “One badly timed front flip. One very hard landing. One collapsed lung. One chest drain. And a few more hospital overnights than were on the holiday itinerary.”

Alcott added that she had loved her time in Annecy, although she joked that she was “not entirely sure it loved me back.” Still, for an athlete who spent two decades competing at the highest level, another serious injury is no small matter.

4x Olympian whose career was marked by brutal injuries

Alcott’s career was not short on success, but it was also marked by repeated injuries. She represented Great Britain at four consecutive Winter Olympics and competed in all five alpine disciplines. She was also a seven-time British national champion and became the only British female skier to win a run in a World Cup race. Her best Olympic result came at Turin 2006, where she finished 11th in the downhill, while she also placed 11th in the super combined at Vancouver 2010.

Injuries, however, followed Alcott throughout her 20-year skiing career. Her record includes a broken neck, broken back, broken ribs, two ACL injuries, a compound tibia and fibula fracture, and a broken ankle. One of the most serious setbacks came in 2010 when she suffered a compound fracture to her lower leg. She later broke the same leg again in 2013, only months before the Sochi Olympics.

Despite that setback, Alcott fought her way back to compete at Sochi 2014. She had spent very little time skiing competitively between her injury and the Olympics, yet still finished 19th in the downhill. She later revealed that a surgeon warned her another serious crash could leave her facing an amputation because of the damage already done to her leg. That history makes her latest injury particularly striking.