The U.S. Ski Team got a scare last weekend when Olympic champion Ted Ligety, the team’s most accomplished male racer, injured his right knee in a downhill training run at the U.S. Championships.
But doctors have determined surgery probably will be unnecessary. Ligety, the only American man to win a medal at the 2006 Turin Olympics and bronze medalist at this year’s world championships, suffered damage to the medial collateral and posterior cruciate ligaments, but the anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus were undamaged.
U.S. Ski Team medical director Richard Quincy said Ligety’s knee will be immobilized for two weeks, then reevaluated.
“I feel pretty fortunate that it’s not as bad as it could be,” said Ligety, who is from Park City, Utah. “At this point, I’m just going to rest and recuperate in Park City. I’ll have regular check-ups and will hopefully be able to get back into preparing for the Olympic season in the not too distant future.”
