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Manager says Schumacher wasn't skiing at high speed

German race car champion Michael Schumacher was not skiing at high speed when he sustained a severe head injury, his manager said on Tuesday, but rather pointed to a series of unfortunate events that led him to plummet into a rock head-first.

Seven-time Formula One race-car champion Michael Schumacher
Seven-time Formula One race-car champion Michael Schumacher Reuters/Pool
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The seven-time race car winner was skiing with a small group of friends and his 14-year-old son Mick in the French Alps over the weekend, his manager Sabine Kehm told journalists at the Grenoble Hospital where he remains in a medically induced coma.

Schumacher's wife Corinne and two children have remained by his bedside, and a small crowd held a night vigil outside of the hospital.

Kehm said that his helmet apparently broke in the accident.

"That doesn't mean that Michael was travelling at high speed,” Kehm said. “He seems to have hit a rock as he took a turn. It was a chain of unfortunate circumstances."

Some reports said he could have been going as fast as 60 to 100 kilometres per hour, but Kehm said the accident could have happened even at 10 kilometres per hour and that he was going slow having just helped a friend who had fallen down.

"Michael was not going very fast,” Kehm said. “But unfortunately as he took the turn, we assume, he hit the rock and was catapulted upwards and then struck a rock head-first."

Doctors on Tuesday said they saw a slight improvement in his condition, but is not out of danger.
 

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