Canada suffered its second training accident in as many days after Kelly Vanderbeek crashed at Val d’Isere. Vanderbeek was stretchered off the piste conscious but with her left leg in a splint after a spectacular tumble on a training run for Saturday’s downhill.
On Wednesday her
Canada, who are hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver in February, have also been hit with injury among the men.
Downhill world champion John Kucera was the victim of a leg fracture in November and
Kucera, Roy and now Yurkiw have all been ruled out of the Olympics.
And while the team will be nervously awaiting a diagnosis on Vanderbeek, downhill specialist Emily Brydon admitted it has been a ”heartbreaking” period for the 2010 Olympic hosts.
Brydon injured her right knee six months before the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, then injured her left knee three months before the event.
“I know what it’s like to have that dream taken away from you but I can only imagine if that dream was (to be competing) in Canada,” Brydon said.
“It’s tough, it’s a sport that we enjoy and we choose to do it and we like the adrenaline, but there are consequences.
“I don’t know the crazy percentage of knee injuries we have in this sport, but the timing of it, with the Olympics being so near, makes this especially tough to bear.”
Brydon admitted the fear of injury was ever present whenever she, and other skiers, are at the start gate. But she knows that it is simply an occupational hazard.
“For sure I’ve thought about it. It is a fear, that something can be taken away from you so quickly,” she added.
“But you have to be a racer to succeed, you have to go that extra mile to be on the podium. And you’re not going to qualify for the Olympics if you don’t do that.
“It’s just kind of part of the hazard.”
The women’s races begin on Friday with a
The blue riband event of the downhill, in which reigning world champion Lindsey Vonn is the big favourite, will be held Saturday while a
Alpine Skiing — World Cup Val d’Isere
Women’s Downhill Combined — Friday 10am LIVE on British Eurosport (Sky 410 / Virgin Media 521) & Eurosport Player
Women’s Slalom Combined — Friday 2.30pm on British Eurosport (Sky 410 / Virgin Media 521) & Eurosport Player
Women’s Downhill — Saturday 10.30am on British Eurosport (Sky 410 / Virgin Media 521) & Eurosport Player
Women’s
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