Olympic dream shattered

Suspected cruciate ligament rupture! Worries about ÖSV ace

Stefan Eichberger will miss the rest of the season.(Bild: GEPA)

Bad news for ÖSV athlete Stefan Eichberger! The 25-year-old took a knock in the first downhill training session in Val Gardena/Gröden on the Camel Humps and was taken to Innsbruck for examinations with a suspected cruciate ligament rupture. Unfortunately, this has now been confirmed. 

After an initial examination on site by team doctor Dr. Anton Wicker junior, the speed specialist was taken to Innsbruck for further clarification. An MRI examination carried out there revealed a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament and a meniscus tear in the right knee.

Eichberger will be transferred to Graz today, where he will undergo surgery. He will therefore be out for the rest of the season. "It will be up to the surgeon to decide what the follow-up treatment will be. We can expect a good year," the ÖSV doctor told ORF.

"Gave a firm blow!"
The camel humps caused problems for some skiers on Tuesday. Due to the snowfall, the skiers arrived at the jumps with too little speed, which meant they didn't go far enough. This was also Eichberger's undoing.

"I skied the camel humps normally. The jump was too short, I landed on the opposite hill on the third camel hump with my right foot. There was a pretty hard knock. As I rode on, I immediately felt that I couldn't put any more weight on it. I had to swing off because it hurt quite a bit," explained the Styrian, who was the second-best ÖSV skier in the first downhill of the season in Beaver Creek in seventh place.

Eichberger had already torn the cruciate ligament in his left knee in December 2022. After the previous winter, with four top ten results and increasing experience on the World Cup downhill slopes, he was seen as a man of the future in the ÖSV speed team, which is short of top skiers. "Stefan was on a very good path, we had hoped for a total breakthrough," said speed group coach Andreas Evers.