Jean-Baptiste Grange, last season's reigning World Cup champion in slalom, will not be able to participate at the Vancouver Olympics because of a serious injury of his right knee.
The 25-year-old French skier from Maurienne, announced Tuesday that his season is over because of a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament of his right knee. He had his knee examined yesterday at the Orthopedic Centre Paul Santy in Lyon after having felt a pain Sunday during the first run of the giant slalom in Beaver Creek, Colorado. As a result, he did not start in the second run as a precautionary measure.
I have suffered a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament," he said after seeing the surgeon Chambat in Lyon. "It is a complete rupture, which will require surgery in early January," Grange added. Grange has won six World Cup races since his debut, the crystal globe in slalom last season and a bronze medal at the 2007 World Championships in Are, Sweden. He was one of France's best hopes for a medal in Vancouver, where the next Olympic Games will take place in February 2010.
"I am only 25 and as for the Olympics, I think there is still a chance that I can participate in 2014 and 2018," Jean-Baptiste Grange emphasized. "I do not want to take any risks and race on one leg only. There are some athletes who decide to do this but it is mostly the ones who are close to the end of their careers." He affirmed that this injury will not hinder him returning to the highest level of competition. "It has been a difficult decision to make to end the season," assured the skier from the Valloire municipality. "I thought it through back and forth but I decided to have surgery and to return even stronger in Sölden," he said referring to the next World Cup season's opener in fall 2010.
The French team will also be in Vancouver without giant slalom specialist Thomas Fanara as well as downhill and super G competitor Pierre Emmanuel Dalcin. Fanara tore the ligament in his previously injured left knee after a spectacular crash in the second leg of Sunday's race.
Dalcin also got hurt during downhill training at Beaver Creek injuring ligaments on both of his knees.
