Austrian canoeist breaks bones after sleepwalking fall

Austrian canoeist Viktoria Schwarz may have been lucky to escape with only broken bones after a bizarre seven-metre fall off a balcony while sleepwalking.

The 30-year-old broke her left shoulder, nose and heel bone after plunging off the balcony in her sleep.

She underwent surgery in Linz and is thankfully now on the road to recovery, but concedes she is fortunate the outcome was not worse.

"I had a hundred guardian angels," Schwarz told the Austrian Olympic team's official website.

"At bedtime I took cough drops. I know I have gone sleepwalking a few times before, but not to this extent. I can't remember anything at all."