Footage: Schumacher skiing off trail in crash

ALBERTVILLE, France (AP) — Two minutes of footage from a camera on Michael Schumacher’s ski helmet showed the Formula One great was clearly skiing off a groomed trail when he lost his balance and crashed, leaving him with critical head injuries, investigators said Wednesday.

The investigators said they have ruled out problems with his skis, trail conditions or signage. Although they would not estimate Schumacher’s speed, they said it was not considered a significant factor in the Dec. 29 crash at Meribel in the French Alps.

“His pace was completely normal for a skilled skier,” said Lt. Col. Benoit Vinneman.

Schumacher, 45, the most successful Formula One driver in history, is still in critical condition in a medically induced coma at a hospital in Grenoble. The impact of the crash split his helmet in two and doctors say the protective gear saved his life.

Prosecutor Patrick Quincy said experts still need to go through the footage image by image, but he said Schumacher landed 9 meters (30 feet) outside the marked trail after falling face down and striking his head on a rock.

Schumacher had been on a family vacation in Meribel, where he owns a chalet.

“Michael Schumacher is a good skier who knows Meribel,” Quincy said.

Skiers and snowboarders continue to use the zone where Schumacher crashed, but say they know they need to be careful.

British tourist Steve Bovill said he always wears a helmet. Speaking from the sunny mountainside, he said, “It was an accident that could have happened to anyone.”

Quincy said the investigation, which is standard after any major skiing accident, had no deadline and was intended to discover what happened, not necessarily fix blame. Without specifying, he said authorities plan to interview more witnesses.

Schumacher’s 14-year-old son Mick was also skiing in their small group

Quincy said investigators would call in experts to review the footage from Schumacher’s helmet cam.

The cameras, which count snowboarder Shaun White and skier Lindsey Vonn among their promoters, have become increasingly popular in adventure sports.

They generally mount on the outside of the helmet or elsewhere on the body and, as investigators pointed out in the Schumacher case, tend to have a fairly narrow field of vision.

Footage from the devices has been used in investigations before, including the deaths of two Icelandic skydivers killed in Florida last year. In that case, the footage showed that one of the skydivers had tried to save the second just before they both died.

Skier Vonn to miss Olympics

(AP) — Lindsey Vonn will miss the Sochi Olympics because of a right knee injury, leaving the Winter Games without one of its biggest stars.

The 29-year-old from Vail, Colo., announced her decision Tuesday, exactly one month before the opening ceremony in Russia.

Her publicist, Lewis Kay, said in a statement that Vonn “will have surgery shortly.”

In a posting on Facebook, Vonn said she is “devastated” to miss the Olympics, “but the reality has sunk in that my knee is just too unstable to compete at this level.”

Canada announces Olympic hockey roster

(AP) — Hockey Canada announced its 25-man hockey roster — loaded with NHL stars — for the Winter Olympics.

Superstar Sidney Crosby, who scored the gold-medal winning goal in 2010 against the U.S., will be joined up front by Jamie Benn, Patrice Bergeron, Jeff Carter, Matt Duchene, Ryan Getzlaf, Chris Kunitz, Patrick Marleau, Rick Nash, Corey Perry, Patrick Sharp, Steven Stamkos, John Tavares and Jonathan Toews.

Jay Bouwmeester, Drew Doughty, Dan Hamhuis, Duncan Keith, Alex Pietrangelo, P.K. Subban, Marc-Idouard Vlasic and Shea Weber will be on defense. The goaltenders are Roberto Luongo, Carey Price and Mike Smith.

Russia begins Sochi security measures

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia began implementing stringent security measures in its southern resort of Sochi, one month before the start of the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Tens of thousands of Russian police, security agents, rescue workers and army troops are being deployed for the games, which run Feb. 7-23.

Vladimir Puchkov, who heads the Emergency Situations Ministry, said all of his security units for Sochi were on duty as of Tuesday.