When inopportunity knocks

U.S. moguls skier Sho Kashima placed sixth at the 2009 World Championships and seemed to be on his way toward competing in Vancouver.

In less than two weeks, he'll be focused on the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Only he'll be watching from Park City, Utah, with a brace covering his shattered left knee.

U.S. alpine skier TJ Lanning bloomed with a pair of top-10 finishes on the World Cup circuit in the 2008-09 season. He'll be at the Olympic Winter Games in Whistler, but only as a spectator after swapping ski poles for crutches.

Another alpiner, Resi Stiegler, was among the next batch of American medal hopefuls behind Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso. She's spending the winter in Hawaii, where she is rehabbing from a skiing crash.

Ill-timed injuries going into the Olympics are as inevitable as the Wheaties cereal box stories that come afterward. The list this year is growing so fast you have to check it twice.

Kashima (knee), Lanning (neck, knee) and Stiegler (leg) make up part of the American contingent sitting out the Vancouver Games. So are snowboarders Kevin Pearce (head injury) and Danny Davis (back) with very serious injuries. Don't forget 2006 Olympic silver medalist bobsledder Valerie Fleming, who reportedly re-aggravated a hamstring pull during a crucial race-off for a brakeman spot in the last month.

The status of two more U.S. Olympians turned to "uncertain" just this weekend. Daron Rahlves and Casey Puckett, who for now are scheduled to compete in the inaugural ski cross competition in Vancouver, left the Winter X Games with a dislocated hip and aggravated shoulder, respectively.

According to U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association President and CEO Bill Marolt, both Rahlves and Puckett are recuperating back home. Marolt added that he anticipates that "when they arrive in Vancouver, they'll be ready to go.''

Still, it's safe to say there have been a lot of tears this season.

"I cried for half an hour [after I crashed]," Kashima said of his training-run spill Jan. 12. "I was heartbroken. ... I knew my season was over, and I lost the opportunity to ski in the Olympics."

Usually when moguls skiers fall hard it's as a result of a twisting, spinning aerial maneuver gone wrong. Not the case for Kashima. His knee gave while changing direction on one of dozens of bumps at the Deer Valley course used at the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic Winter Games.

Kashima, 23, had never suffered a serious leg injury before. But he heard a pop, tumbled to the ground and immediately clutched his knee. Teammate Bryon Wilson unlatched the broken skis. Kashima was taken away on a ski patrol sled. Sho time was over.

"My ACL is gone," he said by phone from Park City. "My medial and lateral meniscus are both torn."

With surgery, he will be out between six to eight months. Kashima is certainly young enough to look ahead to 2014, when the Olympic Winter Games are in Sochi, but he knows too well that today's economy holds long-term plans in check. He, like many Olympic hopefuls, lost a job at Home Depot when the company and the U.S. Olympic Committee ended its working agreement in 2009.

"It'd be a bummer if that was the one thing that held all of us back," said Kashima, speaking of any athlete under the financial burden. He has no fears as sponsors have already stepped up in aid during the recovery process.

"All of us have tremendous support," he said. "I feel like we have to make it. Some of us might have to scrap a little."

Lanning has seemingly been scrapping-in recovery from injuries, that is-his whole career. The Park City native's file included two torn ACLs, ankle ligament damage and a ruptured disk in his back that ruined his Olympic hopes in 2006.

That was before his worst crash of all last November during a downhill race at Lake Louise, Alberta. His right leg got caught in a gate, sending the skier somersaulting off course at highway speed, shrieking in pain once he stopped. Lanning blew out his left knee and fractured vertebrae. He feels lucky not to have lost his leg after watching a slow-motion replay on YouTube last week. Lanning first watched the crash when he was released from the hospital Dec. 7.

"[Watching] it was a little bit emotional for me," said Lanning, 25. "It was kind of a reassurance, especially when you're going through rehab. It's a reminder that I was lucky."

Lanning expected his neck brace to come off by the end of January. He had a second ACL surgery in January, as planned, and said his rehab is on schedule, too.

Lanning's crash, while a spectacle, has been nothing out of the ordinary this season. One by one, World Cup alpine stars have been crossed out of the Olympic Winter Games because of race injuries. Complaints are showering in about the way courses are handled.

Tracks have long been injected with water, expanding durability to accommodate more runs. But when courses are injected in some parts and left alone in others, it can turn dangerous.

That's what clipped Lanning. He lost control after turning from an injected area of the course to a natural portion.

"If they're going to make it icy, they need to make the whole course icy," he said. "The injection stopped a couple turns before I crashed."

Both the treatment of alpine courses and the revamped snowboarding halfpipe layout, from 18 feet high to a 22-footer set for its Olympic debut, have been scrutinized for safety. The International Ski Federation answered questions from a concerned panel of alpine skiers as the injuries began to pile last month.

"Ultimately there is an inherent risk in these sports," Marolt said. "It's something that we all know and we understand. At the same time, we are concerned about safety."

Stiegler can't blame course conditions for wiping out her Olympic hopes Nov. 19 at Copper Mountain, Colo. She had suffered broken bones before but knew immediately this training-run crash was different. Challenged by teammates to ski faster during giant slalom training, she clipped her right ski and cartwheeled her way to a stop.

"I heard my bone break instantly," said the 24-year-old from Jackson Hole, Wyo. "Besides the shock, I knew that there was something really wrong."

Actually, two bones broke: her left femur and tibia. Stiegler had been anxious for her second Olympics after finishing 11th and 12th in two 2006 Olympic races, when she made headlines for racing with furry tiger ears on her helmet. Stiegler and her ears won't be traveling to Vancouver.

She'll be in Maui instead. There, she's getting back up to speed with trainer Scott Sanchez, who has also worked with Mancuso. It'll take a few more months, but she'll be back on the World Cup circuit next year. Like Kashima and Lanning, one crash won't ground her.

"I'm not really much on giving up," Stiegler said. "I'm going to keep on going for it."

Story courtesy Red Line Editorial, Inc. Nick Zaccardi is a freelance contributor for teamusa.org. This story was not subject to the approval of any National Governing Bodies.

 

Tags: Casey Puckett, Danny Davis, Daron Rahlves , Kevin Pearce, Nick Zaccardi, Resi Stiegler, Sho Kashima, TJ Lanning, Valerie Fleming, Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games