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Olympic Alpine skiing champion suffers serious knee injury

Apline Skiing - Day 12

WHISTLER CREEKSIDE, CANADA - FEBRUARY 23: (FRANCE OUT) Carlo Janka of Switzerland takes the Gold Medal during the Men’s Alpine Skiing Giant Slalom on Day 12 of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games on February 23, 2010 in Whistler Creekside, Canada. (Photo by Francis Bompard/Agence Zoom/Getty Images)

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Swiss Carlo Janka, the 2010 Olympic giant slalom champion, suffered ligament damage in his right knee in training on Tuesday, five days before the World Cup season starts.

Janka, 31, is traveling home for rehabilitation, according to the Swiss Ski Team.

Janka’s status for the season, including the Olympics, is not known.

Janka, nicknamed “The Iceman” for his laid-back personality, was once the world’s best skier. He was a 23-year-old phenom when he won his Olympic gold and the World Cup overall title in the same season.

A year after the Vancouver Games, Janka experienced an irregular heartbeat and was forced to undergo
minor heart surgery.

He has not been the same skier since, even saying at one low point before Sochi, “I need to ski with the women now.” Janka’s best Olympic or world championships result since Vancouver is sixth.

Janka has two World Cup wins in the last six years, but one was the super-G at the PyeongChang Olympic venue in February 2016.

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