Beaver Creek: Svindal may miss rest of season

BEAVER CREEK, Colorado — Aksel Lund Svindal, who suffered a deep gash in his groin area from a crash during a downhill training run earlier this week, required ''minor abdominal surgery'' as part of his treatment, the Vail Valley Medical Center said in a statement Thursday.

BEAVER CREEK, Colorado — Aksel Lund Svindal, who suffered a deep gash in his groin area from a crash during a downhill training run earlier this week, required ''minor abdominal surgery'' as part of his treatment, the Vail Valley Medical Center said in a statement Thursday.
    The news came a day after Norway team doctor Ola Ronsen said the overall World Cup leader had undergone four hours of surgery to repair broken bones in his face and also had chipped a tooth. Svindal's abdominal surgery was part of the same operation. Ronsen had refused to divulge details of Svindal's wound based on doctor-patient confidentiality.
    U.S. Team doctor Bill Sterett — who as part of the host delegation closely monitored Svindal's condition — told Austrian news agency APA on Thursday that the 15-centimeter (six-inch) laceration caused by his ski ''went up near his rectum, his large intestine,'' requiring surgery.
    ''This is how deep the ski laceration was,'' Sterett said.
    Sterett believes Svindal will need further surgery in three months.
    ''I was not involved in the decision belly part of his surgery,'' said Sterett, emphasizing his speciality was in knees and shoulders. ''But based on the extent on the injury, he'll need more surgery down the line.''
    The 24-year-old Svindal is expected to remain hospitalized for at least another three-to-five days and Norwegian team officials have said he would not return to competition for months.
    ''He's pretty puffed up. His eye is really swollen up,'' said Bryon Friedman, who went to visit Svindal in the hospital on Wednesday. Friedman knows what bad accidents are like, having shattered his lower right leg in a race at Chamonix, France, in 2005.
    Svindal will need at least three weeks without any physical training or exercise to allow the wound to heal, Ronsen said. Only then will doctors be able to assess when he might resume training.  
    Sterett raised the possibility he could be out for the season.
    Svindal lost his balance on the lower section of the course, coming off the Golden Eagle jump and crashed as he was heading into a compression — or dip — that follows the jump. He landed on his back and neck with his skis in front of him, then slid over the dangerously sharp edges of his skis, which cut him as he careened into the safety netting.
    He was removed from the course on a sled before being transported to the Vail Valley Medical Center.
    Svindal won a super-G in Lake Louise on Sunday to reclaim the lead in the overall standings. He also won the season-opening giant slalom at Soelden, Austria.

    — Erica Bulman, The Associated Press