David, who comes from the Aosta Valley , was born as the son of two-time Italian downhill champion Davide David . Under the wing of his father, he developed into a top international driver. He won the bronze medal in giant slalom at the European Junior Championships in Kranjska Gora in 1977 and competed in his first European Cup races at the age of 16 in the winter of 1976/77 . In his second season he was able to win the overall ranking of the European Cup.
David's steep rise was continued in the 1978/79 season in the World Cup. At the start of the season in Schladming , he finished third in his very first World Cup race. In the following two months he achieved one top position after the other in the slalom and giant slalom competitions and made serious competition to established stars like Ingemar Stenmark and Phil Mahre . Italy celebrated him as the legitimate successor to Gustav Thöni . Overall, David was able to place in the top ten ten times between December 1978 and February 1979. The greatest success for the 18-year-old came at the World Cup slalom in Oslo . In the second run he took the lead and took the first and only World Cup victory of his short career. This victory was the last slalom success for the Italian men's team for almost eight years.
Just under a week after his victory, on February 16, 1979, he had a hard crash on the descent of the Italian championship in Cortina d'Ampezzo . After his accident, he complained of a severe headache. A neurologist called in could not find any damage to the brain. After a two-week recovery period, David traveled with the Italian team to the pre-Olympic competitions in Lake Placid in early March . Although the vibrations on the slopes still gave him a headache, he started the World Cup descent on March 3, 1979. He fell again shortly before the finish line, got up and drove over the finish line. Just a few minutes later he collapsed unconscious in the target area. - According to the "Kronenzeitung Wien" of March 5, 1979, this had not been seriously registered at first, before teammates were aware that the athlete was still on the ground. In addition, medical care did not meet the usual standards of Central Europe.
David never woke up from this unconsciousness. As a result of the traumatic brain injury suffered in the two serious falls , he fell into a vegetative state in which he only apparently responded to external stimuli, paralyzed. For three years, his parents tried in vain with the help of international specialists to get him out of a coma. They cared for him at home for the last three years of his life. Finally, Leonardo David died of heart failure on February 26, 1985, almost exactly six years after his falls, at the age of 24.
David's early death became a matter for the courts. His parents sued the officials of the Italian Ski Association. With the return to the World Cup much too early, the duty of supervision for the athletes was violated.
Italy
