The big dream of the Olympics has shattered for Swiss ski racer Lara Gut-Behrami.
The 34-year-old suffered a torn cruciate ligament, a torn medial ligament and a torn meniscus in her left knee in a serious training fall in Copper Mountain/USA and will be out for the rest of the season. The Swiss Ski Association announced this on Thursday following investigations in Switzerland. Gut-Behrami will have surgery next week.
End of career postponed for now
The Super-G Olympic champion has now put her plans to end her career after the winter on hold. “My goal is to fully recover from this injury and return to my full performance. Only then will I know what the future has in store for me” said Gut-Behrami.
The Swiss woman did not want to dramatize her serious injury. They have the next few months though “imagined completely differently”said the two-time world champion and overall World Cup winner. But you have “Recently there have been dramatic events in our sport, fatal accidents involving young athletes. I am of the opinion that a knee injury, no matter how complex it may be, cannot be considered a tragedy.”
The failure of Gut-Behrami weighs “of course difficult“, emphasized head coach Beat Tschuor. The Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina (February 6th to 22nd) are “It was Lara’s last big career goal”he added, “This serious injury is all the more bitter.”