“I didn’t know what it was, but I felt something,” said Hirscher, who was unhurt and continued his run, finishing second behind Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway. “I thought it was a course worker behind me, or a gate.”

Course workers slip through the gates shortly after each skier to smooth the snow surface for the next competitor.

“I am very relieved that nothing happened,” Hirscher said, adding: “That would have been a very serious, bad injury. There are a lot of cool things nowadays. But you have to guarantee the safety, and that was just insane.”

Waldner said that the federation had agreed to let its broadcast partner, Infront Sports & Media, use the drone at the slalom, but that the pilot was not allowed to fly the camera directly over the racecourse.

“He did not follow our instructions,” Waldner said. “He had to fly outside of the racetrack and follow the racer from a 15-meter distance. Then there would have been a margin, and nothing could have happened.”