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SKIING

Norwegian ski champ in freak soccer injury

Ski star Aksel Lund Svindal may miss the entire World Cup season after getting a serious injury while playing a game of football with his teammates at the weekend.

Norwegian ski champ in freak soccer injury
Aksel Lund Svindal. Photo: Cornelius Poppe / NTB scanpix

The accident happened during a training session in Sölden on Saturday afternoon and Svidnal is confirmed as suffering a torn Achilles tendon.

Svindal was in training in Sölden to prepare himself for next weekend's skiing World Cup which opens with the slalom competition. He was one of six Norwegian male alpinists set to compete.

It was the Achilles tendon in his left leg that ruptured, and the ski champion was immediately taken to hospital in Innsbruck, 100km away, and received immediate surgery.
 
Svindal is unsure how long he will be out of action, but he is likely to miss the whole World Cup season.
 
The 31-year-old said in a statement via the Norwegian Ski Federation: “We had been on a short jogging trip in Sölden together with the whole team and finished it off with some ball play. I suddenly felt a jolt in my leg and I understood right away what was wrong. S*** happens.”
 
“We went quickly to the hospital in Innsbruck. There I received fast and super service and the conclusion was that my Achilles tendon had ruptured. I was operated on less than an hour later,” he added.
 
Svindal was the last Norwegian alpinist to win the season opening in Sölden. He won on the Rettenbach glacier in 2007 and was one of the favourites at that time. Norwegian ski fans now have to put their trust in Kjetil Jansrud and Leif Kristian Haugen.
 
Svindal said from his sickbed in Innsbruck: “It is a boring injury and extremely bad timing just as the season is about to start. But it has happened now, so I can now only look ahead. Noone knows exactly how long the recovery will take, but I expect it to take a while.”
 
He added: “I’m well looked after and will stay in Austria for a while longer before I go to Oslo to make a plan further with the Olympia team.”

Marc Jacob Strauss, team physician for the alpine skiers, advised Svindal must now train himself carefully over the next weeks and will most probably not be able to use his skis for the next three to four months.

Ski chief Claus Ryste said to NTB: “It's a very serious injury Aksel has, and according to all past experience we know, this will take time to heal. I therefore feel quite certain he will not take part in the World Cup this season.”

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SKIING

Snow report: What’s the latest outlook for French ski resorts this winter?

Good news for skiers in France, as a mild December has given way to a cold blast in early January that's bringing some much-needed snow.

Snow report: What's the latest outlook for French ski resorts this winter?

After a mostly dry and mild December, snow returned to the the Pyrenees on Friday.

Meanwhile most resorts in the Alps have been able to stay open after a promising early start to the ski season, thanks to fresh snowfalls, with more on the way this weekend.

Pyrenees

Snow has returned in the Pyrenees. Some 5cm fell overnight into Friday, January 5th in eastern parts of the mountain range, with forecasts predicting a further 15cm to 20cm to be on the ground 24 hours later. The region had not seen any snow since December 2nd.

In Angles, 20cm of snow had fallen at higher altitudes by mid-morning on Friday.

Further west, numerous resorts in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département remained closed this week after early December snow had melted in mild conditions that have dominated France in recent weeks, but significant snowfall is expected over the weekend into Monday, and resorts are hoping that they will see enough to open.

One resort, Artouste, has been unable to offer skiing since the start of the season on December 23rd due to a lack of snow. A scenic rail service – usually reserved for warmer months – has kept the resort going. It is set to stop running on Friday, amid expectations of enough snow to finally open the slopes.

READ ALSO Climate crisis: ’90 percent’ of Europe’s ski resorts face critical snow shortages

Alps 

Many ski resorts opened on time, or even a little earlier than scheduled last month, after significant early snow fall, and have enjoyed deposits in the first days of 2024. But, even here, resort managers welcomed the promise of more significant snow this weekend.

Some resorts weren’t so fortunate. Ski areas in Gérardmer, in the Vosges, were still closed in the week leading up to Christmas because of poor snow conditions, but they are hoping for enough snow to finally get started this weekend, while La Bresse-Honeck was using ‘stocked snow’ made by using snow that fell earlier in the winter months to stay open as recently as December 30th.

In the Northern Alps, resorts such as Alpe d’Huez benefited from fresh snowfall on December 22nd, while Val d’Isère had new snow on December 29th. In the Southern Alps, Les Orres’ last pre-New Year snow was on December 8th.

And the French Alps have enjoyed more snow since the start of the year. There’s at least 50cm of fresh snow on the higher slopes of Les Gets and Morzine, for example, a significant improvement on the same time last year, when the resorts were among several that had very little snow to speak of.

In Chamonix, meanwhile, snow has fallen on eight of the last 14 days, with more expected every day between Friday and Monday.

Massif Central

As the post on X / Twitter shows, the Massif Central has not had the best of winters for snow so far. But between 30cm and 50cm is expected in Le Lioran by Monday. 

READ ALSO ‘So many barriers since Brexit’: The French ski businesses no longer willing to hire Brits

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