NEW YORK -- Evan Lysacek is back on the ice doing light training but said he couldn’t speculate on a return from a hip injury.
Lysacek, 28, hasn’t competed since his 2010 Olympic title, his comeback delayed and delayed and delayed by injuries. The latest, a torn labrum in his left hip, forced him to withdraw from last week’s Skate America.
He fell on a quadruple toe loop at Champs Camp in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Aug. 21 and stayed off the ice for about a month with what he thought was a torn abdominal muscle. On Sept. 26, an MRI revealed the torn labrum.
Now Lysacek is in a race against time. He must post a minimum score in an international competition before the U.S. Championships (Jan. 9-12) to be eligible for the Sochi Olympics. The two-man U.S. team will be named after the U.S. Championships in Boston.
Lysacek said he has a list of possible events in November and December to enter and achieve that score, but he doesn’t know when he will be in competition shape.
“I’m back to training, light training, so I’m happy to be back on the ice,” Lysacek said at a Citibank in Union Square on Saturday as dozens of children from the Figure Skating in Harlem program gathered for a meet-and-greet event. “It’s pretty diverse at this point, a lot of physical therapy, some off ice, a little bit of on ice. Just kind of getting back slowly into training, trying my best to obey doctors’ orders.”
He’ll spend the next few days in New York for events surrounding 100 days out from the Olympics and shooting a commercial for Citi through Wednesday before flying back to his training base in California.
On Sept. 30, Lysacek said at the U.S. Olympic Media Summit that he had specific goals and a timetable he’d like to hit that he made known to doctors. On Saturday, he said the healing process is out of his control.
“It’s just going to be dependent on the rate I can heal,” Lysacek said while wearing his 2010 Olympic gold medal as Katy Perry‘s “Roar” played over a sound system. “No one, including doctors, can really predict healing. ... Patience has never been a virtue that I’ve possessed.”
Lysacek’s coach, Frank Carroll, told Icenetwork.com at Skate Canada that Lysacek had medical treatment Monday and, about his recovery, “I don’t know about Evan at all.”
Lysacek remains hopeful that he will heal quickly. But just how quick is the answer he can’t provide yet.
“I can’t speculate,” he said, “though I wish I could. I’m just trying to obey doctors’ orders because I’d like to nip this in the bud now instead of having it be a lingering injury.”