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Kilde won Downhill and Super-G in Val Gardena (file image)
© APA (AFP)
Also in 2021 there will be some ski riders who miss the season’s featured World Cup due to serious injuries. This year, local heroine Sofia Goggia, Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and ÖSV ace Nicole Schmidhofer will have to watch the competitions at Cortina d’Ampezzo on television. An overview of the most important absentees and those for whom a World Cup outing may still be useful:
Italy’s Goggia was the big downhill gold favorite in her home World Cup and would likely have competed for medals in the Super-G. But on Sunday the 28-year-old fell after the cancellation of the Super-G in Garmisch-Partenkirchen while driving down a side route into the parking lot. In Milan, doctors found a fracture of the head of the tibia in the right knee. Goggia has won four of the five downhill races so far this season.
Kilde, the outright World Cup winner from the previous season, caught him before the Kitzbühel weekend in Super-G training in Hinterreit. The Norwegian tore a cruciate ligament in his right knee. As an off-roader with a speed list, the 28-year-old would have been a hot medalist for Downhill and Super-G at Cortina and could have wowed in the giant slalom or parallel competition.
Two young tech stars from the Norwegian team also miss the winter climax: Sölden winner Lucas Braathen suffered a collateral ligament injury to his left knee in Adelboden and had to undergo surgery. Atle Lie McGrath was diagnosed with a knee ligament stretch, also after a fall in the Adelboden giant slalom, which required a break of several weeks. And as if that were not enough, the American Tommy Ford also fell violently a day later on the Chuenisbärgli. He tore several ligaments in his knee and hand and suffered head and neck injuries at the same time.
Decimated, once again, the women of ÖSV also go to a World Cup. Speed figure Schmidhofer was injured in his fall on the Val d’Isere descent in December. Doctors spoke of a sprained fracture of the left knee joint that tore all the ligaments in the knee and required several operations. It is currently not possible to say with certainty whether a career in top-level sports will still be possible.
In January, Nina Ortlieb fell during training in Crans-Montana. The Vorarlberg resident suffered an anterior cruciate ligament, medial ligament, external meniscus and a torn patellar tendon in her right knee. Two Austrian contenders for precious metals are missing in the speed disciplines, and Cornelia Hütter is also working on her next comeback. After a cruciate ligament and meniscus tear during slalom training at the Reiteralm before the turn of the year, Bernadette Schild is also forced to watch. Another slalom specialist, Swede Anna Swenn-Larsson (broken ankle), is canceled.
The Swiss team was also hit hard. Urs Kryenbühl fell on the last jump downhill in Kitzbühel, suffering a fractured right clavicle and tears in the cruciate and internal ligament of his right knee. Because Niels Hintermann and Mauro Caviezel had injured their knees before that, the Swiss downhill team at Cortina has been reduced to a trio for now. At least Caviezel could get in shape in time, according to Swiss-Ski. Surprisingly, he’s on the team for sprinting at Garmisch on the weekend.
Thomas Dreßen, who missed the previous season with a hip operation, is also returning to training with the German national team. The Bavarian could make his comeback in the World Cup at home. The outlook is worse for American Ryan Cochran-Siegle, who fell like Kryenbühl on Kitzbühel’s first descent. The Super-G winner in Bormio suffered a cervical fracture and could be out for months.
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