On Sunday March 2, 2008 during a World Cup Super-G run at Kvitfjell in Norway, Lanzinger crashed into a gate, tumbling down the steep slope.
He sustained an open fracture of one leg, and was flown by ambulance helicopter first to Lillehammer hospital, then on to Ullevål University Hospital in Oslo, due for emergency surgery.
A contributing factor to the serious injury was the fact that the release mechanism on one of his ski binding did not trigger immediately.