Injured Kildow to miss rest of season

By Published On: February 23rd, 2007Comments Off on Injured Kildow to miss rest of season

Lindsey Kildow, who earned two silver medals at the recent FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Sweden before injuring her right knee, has decided to skip the rest of the season rather than risk more serious injury, she said Thursday night. Without Kildow in the picture, Renate Goetschl has won the World Cup super G title.
    Kildow, 22, injured the knee a week ago during slalom training at worlds in Are, Sweden, and withdrew from the last two races, a slalom and the team event. She was hoping to return to racing March 2-4 in Tarvisio, Italy. She suffered a lower level anterior cruciate ligament injury, she said, and hoped to return and win the World Cup super G title. However, after two separate MRIs and conferring Wednesday with Dr. Christian Fink in Austria, she decided to end her season to avoid further injury.


PARK CITY, Utah — Lindsey Kildow, who earned two silver medals at the recent FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Sweden before injuring her right knee, has decided to skip the rest of the season rather than risk more serious injury, she said Thursday night. Without Kildow in the picture, Renate Goetschl has won the World Cup super G title.
   Kildow, 22, injured the knee a week ago during slalom training at worlds in Are, Sweden, and withdrew from the last two races, a slalom and the team event. She was hoping to return to racing March 2-4 in Tarvisio, Italy. She suffered a lower level anterior cruciate ligament injury, she said, and hoped to return and win the World Cup super G title. However, after two separate MRIs and conferring Wednesday with Dr. Christian Fink in Austria, she decided to end her season to avoid further injury.
    Speaking by phone from Europe, she said, "Dr. Fink is a good friend of [U.S. Ski Team surgeon Dr.] Bill Sterrett, and after looking at the MRI he was straight with me and said if I really wanted to, I could race again. But he told me the risk of tearing my ACL was high … and I don't want that.
    "In the long run, its definitely the right decision. I'm very disappointed because everything had been going so well this season, and it feels OKwhen I'm walking around. But pushing myself 80 miles an hour on sections of a downhill is very different and this is definitely the right decision," Kildow said.
    The two-time Olympian was silver medalist in the super G and downhill at the championships in Sweden. She also had won three World Cup races this season and is fifth overall in the points, second in super G and third in the downhill standings.
    "I accomplished one goal in winning a medal at worlds," she said, "and I was hoping to win the super G title. It was a tough decision, but it's the right one. "I'm young and this is the first serious injury of my career. I guess I'll have my time some other time."
    At U.S. Ski Team headquarters in Park City, U.S. Alpine Director Jesse Hunt said, "What a tough way for Lindsey to end the championships, and then to end her season. But we're more concerned about getting her back healthy than having her go through something so risky. She had two different MRIs and it just makes sense to miss the rest of the season rather than have her fully tear her ACL and miss even longer.
    "It's been a great season for her but right now the biggest and most important thing is to get her 100 percent healthy again."

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About the Author: Pete Rugh