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Early end of the season for Katja Grossmann.
How bad luck can a female skier have? The Swiss B squad athlete Katja Grossmann (25) falls on Tuesday during the second training session for the European Cup downhill in Châtel (Fri). The consequences? Brutally. She sustained an open fracture of the left lower leg and was operated on the same day. The season is over for the speed specialist.
For Grossmann it is the second injury shock within a very short time. She already had to cope with a setback last October. She fell during training in Zermatt VS and smashed her right hand. All metacarpal bones were broken and had to be fixed with three plates and 25 screws.
Missing the second place on the podium by a hair’s breadth
Giving up was out of the question for Grossmann. “I will keep fighting and make the best of this injury and come back stronger,” she wrote on Instagram at the time. And she kept her word.
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About six weeks ago, Grossmann released a video showing her way back. Before Christmas she competed in the first FIS races of the season, was 17th in the Downhill and ninth in the Super-G. In mid-January she made her comeback in the European Cup, but she failed to score points in three races. Most recently, she finished fourth in Sarentino (It) and missed the downhill podium by just eight hundredths of a second.
Slowed down again and again by injuries
Now Grossmann is once again slowed down by an injury. your medical record? Several knee injuries, torn ligaments in the ankle, back pain, broken tibia and fibula and broken hands.
That’s why the downhill silver medalist at the 2017 Junior World Championships hasn’t made her breakthrough in the World Cup yet. She has only contested two descents at the highest level – one failure and place 33 resulted in February 2021 in Val di Fassa, Italy.
Will she think about giving up this time? Hardly imaginable. As often and successfully as Grossmann has fought back again and again, she will probably do the same this time. And one can only hope that she will be spared the injury witch afterwards. (bir)