McKennis recovering after season-ending injury

American speed skier Alice McKennis is recovering from surgery after breaking the tibia plateau of her left leg on Jan. 2 while training in Saalbach, Austria. The Glenwood Springs, Colo. native returned home to have surgery last Thursday at the Steadman-Hawkins Clinic in Vail.

“It was my last run of the day and pretty much my last gate too so I almost made it through the day,” laughed McKennis, whose attitude is positive a week after the injury. “I was pretty late for a gate that I was trying to make and caught my left ski, my skis crossed and I fell really hard. I knew as soon as my tips crossed that something had happened to my knee. Before I even finished crashing I knew there was something wrong for sure. I knew my season was over right then.” 

Surgeons at the renowned clinic stabilized the leg with a permanent metal plate and five screws and ordered McKennis, who has never had an injury that has kept her off the snow for more than five days, to keep weight off of it for six-eight weeks. Her goal is to be back on snow in nine months in time for a pre-season training camp in Chile.

“If everything is looking good after eight weeks then hopefully I can start strengthening and getting my legs back then,” said McKennis, who will stay at home near the clinic until doctors give her the green light to continue her recovery at the U.S. Ski Team’s headquarters in Park City, Utah.
 
During her first season on the World Cup tour last year, McKennis pulled in an impressive eight scoring results including three top-15 finishes. She began this season with more encouraging results with a pair of top-15 finishes at the first World Cup downhill races of the season in Lake Louise.

“I’m really bummed to miss World Champs, it was a goal of mine to make it and that’s definitely not going to happen anymore,” said McKennis, who was named to the 2010 Olympic Team. “These next six weeks are going to be the hardest, not doing anything in the middle of the race season, but I just have to take it one day at a time and be positive.”

McKennis plans to fill her time while recovering with reading and taking on-line literature classes.

“I’m super motivated to get back on the snow. I’m going to do every exercise, everything I can to get out there sooner than later,” she said. “It’s hard missing a ski season, I never have before and I can’t wait to get back out there, it’s not going to be hard for me to work at it.” — Eric Williams