Skier Marcel Hirscher Nearly Hit by Drone During World Cup Race

— -- A champion professional skier used to battling extremely dangerous terrains on the slopes was forced to deal with a danger from the sky when a drone nearly fell on him during a World Cup race.

Marcel Hirscher was skiing an Alpine slalom race in Italy Tuesday when a drone carrying a camera crashed onto the slope just behind him.

Hirscher, the reigning four-time World Cup skiing champion, escaped injury, and finished the race in second place. Afterward, he spoke out about the dangerous situation.

“This is horrible," Hirscher told reporters. "This can never happen again. This can be a serious injury."

Hirscher later joked about the incident on Instagram, captioning a photo of himself skiing with, “Heavy air traffic in Italy #crazy #drone #crash #luckyme.”

ESPN reports the international ski federation is now banning camera drones from World Cup races.

The drone crash is not the first to happen at a professional sporting event. In September, during a heated match at the US Open tennis Grand Slam tournament in New York, a drone was caught on tape flying into the tournament’s Louis Armstrong Stadium and crashing into the grandstand seats.