Nino Schurter suffers one of the worst injuries of his career... on a scooter: fracture and dislocation after a crash

Nino Schurter has spent practically his entire professional career avoiding serious injuries in a discipline as prone to falls as XCO. But, paradoxically, it has been after his retirement from the World Cup and away from a bike that the 10-time world champion has suffered one of his most serious mishaps. A fall while descending on a mountain scooter ended with a fracture and dislocation in his left arm and required him to be evacuated by helicopter.

A day blueberry picking ends with Nino Schurter evacuated by helicopter

Schurter himself has explained what happened on his social media, and he did so with the usual sense of humor he maintains even after an accident of this nature: "It turns out that retirement is dangerous", he concluded.

It all started with a day of hiking and blueberry picking in the mountains with his partner and his eldest daughter. The problem arose during the descent when Schurter was using a mountain scooter and suffered a heavy fall.

According to the Swiss, he immediately felt a pain of an intensity he had never experienced before. Initially, he checked that he had dislocated his arm, but later tests at the hospital confirmed that there was also a fracture.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Nino Schurter (@nschurter)

The X-ray that Schurter himself has shared shows that the injury is in the left arm and affects the shoulder area, although for now he has not provided more details about the exact type of fracture.

The severity of the accident necessitated the intervention of rescue services, and Schurter had to be evacuated from the mountain by helicopter.

Despite the severity of the fall and the injury, the initial news is relatively positive. The former cyclist was able to leave the hospital late that same night and has confirmed that he will be out of action for several weeks while he recovers.

"I am incredibly grateful that it wasn't worse," explained Schurter, who also wanted to thank the help he received from his family, the rescue team, and the doctors who treated him.

The paradox of a career practically without serious injuries

The accident is particularly striking in the case of Nino Schurter. For more than two decades competing at the highest level, the Swiss has always felt grateful for having managed to stay away from major injuries despite practicing a discipline where falls are part of the daily risk.

And we are not talking about a short career. Schurter built one of the most successful careers in the history of mountain biking, with ten XCO world titles and years competing on increasingly fast and technical circuits.

Now, once away from the World Cup, one of the most significant accidents of his sports career has occurred. And it wasn't even on a bike.

Schurter continues to compete and win after his retirement

Schurter's retirement at the end of last season did not mean that he stopped riding a bike or putting on a race number. What ended was primarily his stage as a regular competitor in the XCO World Cup, which has allowed him to take on events and adventures in 2026 that were difficult to fit into his calendar before.

One of the most important was the BC Bike Race, a race he had wanted to compete in for years and in which he ended up achieving overall victory in his first participation. Moreover, he did so facing seven days on the technical trails of British Columbia without assistance, a very different experience from the structure of a World Cup team. 

Now he will have to temporarily set aside his calendar. Schurter has not specified when he expects to return to riding a bike and only speaks of a few weeks of recovery, so we will have to wait to see the evolution of the fracture before knowing when he can return.