Kathrin Zettel – Austria’s current top ranked gate skier – will skip the slalom at Levi due to problems with her hip according to reports out of Europe.

Zettel finished second in the World Cup GS standings the last two seasons and second in slalom a season ago, three points behind champion Maria Riesch. A 2007 crash in the downhill leg of the Tarvisio World Cup super combined resulted in a broken leg and tibial head fracture. Since then she has struggled to make a complete recovery and the soreness has now moved into her hip. She was, she said in a report filed by Der Standard, “extremely limited” in her summer training schedule.

Although her seventh place finish at Soelden in the World Cup season’s opening event (a GS) was the top Austrian result, the priority will go to therapy and not racing at Levi. It is expected she will be close enough to full strength by Nov. 16 when the team travels for the the opening of the North American swing of racing at Aspen Nov. 27.

With eight World Cup wins and 33 podiums Zettel is not a skier the Austrians want jeopardized. The plan is to be careful with her recovery. Women’s coach Herbert Mandl said Zettel’s hip problem was something “we have to get a handle on.” hm

Gepa photo