Olympic skier Katharina Liensberger to overlook Games after struggling severe knee damage in coaching

Olympic slalom silver medalist Katharina Liensberger sustained a number of severe accidents to her proper knee in a coaching crash in St. Michael, Austria, and was scheduled to bear surgical procedure Friday, in keeping with the International Ski and Snowboard Federation.

The Austrian native fractured her tibial plateau, tore her meniscus and suffered a medial collateral ligament damage forward of this weekend’s World Cup races in Slovenia. Liensberger’s damage comes only a month earlier than the 2026 Winter Olympics, forcing her to overlook the Games in Italy. At the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, China, Liensberger helped clinch gold for Austria within the staff occasion and took house a person silver medal within the slalom.

The 28-year-old, who additionally suffered a fall somewhat over a month in the past throughout coaching, gained the slalom general championship on the 2021 World Cup. She positioned within the prime 10 on 4 events this yr and completed in fourth place on the Semmering, Austria slalom competitors on Dec. 28. Liensberger’s one in all Austria’s most constant skiers and her presumed absence from the Olympics will probably be a major blow to a rustic that’s already suffered accidents to a few former Olympic champions; Michelle Gisin, Lara Gut-Behrami and Corinne Suter.

Liensberger is ranked fifteenth within the general standings, tenth in slalom and 18th within the big slalom, in keeping with the FIS standings. She was Austria’s second-highest-rated girls’s skier, behind solely Cornelia Huetter.