Heidi Kloser’s return to competition delayed by another surgery

Heidi Kloser, the U.S. moguls skier who tore an ACL in warm-ups for Olympic qualifying in Sochi in February and returned to skiing in November, recently re-injured her knee in training, requiring another surgery Thursday.

“It was actually probably a great thing that they caught this, as upsetting and saddening as it is that I had to get another surgery and miss more competitions,” Kloser said in a blog post. “I hope that I am good for the long run now and maybe if everything goes well from here I have hope that I can ski again this year.”

Kloser, 22, wrote that she recently took a pretty hard landing on a back flip in training and thought she had suffered a bone bruise.

I skied over to the side of the course and had to take about a minute to regroup and take some breaths because that was the most my knee had hurt in a while. I did a miniature replay and self assessment and came to the conclusion that I had not heard any pops so my ACL was probably still okay but I had still had a hard landing that could have caused some problems especially bone damage. I took my skis off and hiked back up to the flat spot next to the top air. I talked with my coach, I was definitely freaked out I did not want to have hurt my knee again. I sat there for about five minutes and readjusted my knee brace and decided that it was probably not a good idea to jump anymore that day ...

Later, it was determined surgery was the best option “to clean up the meniscus and scar tissue,” she wrote.

Kloser wrote that before the injury in training, she hoped to compete at this weekend’s World Cup in Park City, Utah, and next week’s World Championships in Austria.

In Sochi, Kloser came back from her knee injury to participate in the Opening Ceremony’s Parade of Nations the following night.

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