Russian ski cross racer Maria Komissarova has undergone successful surgery on her back after being seriously injured during training on Saturday, according to officials.
The 23 year old suffered an injury during training on Saturday at
the PSX Olympic ski cross venue at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, said
the Russian Freestyle Federation in a statement earlier in the
day. She was taken to Krasnaya Polyana Hospital where the doctors
“took the decision to operate on her on the spot."
The injury was a fracture of the spine with a dislocation said
team head of press Mikhail Verzhba as cited by R-Sport, adding
that the surgery was a success and lasted six and a half hours.
Komissarova’s condition is very serious, but stable, the
federation said, adding that the athlete might need another
surgery.
The athlete will not take part in the rest of the Games,
according to the federation’s statement.
The head of the freestyle team Natalia Corona earlier explained
how the athlete got the injury.
“She fell on the ‘waves’. This is not the hardest part of the
route. Apparently, the athlete was preparing for more complex
elements, relaxed and got injured on relatively simple
ones.”
The ski cross course at Extreme Park is a medium-pitch 1,200
meter slope with cambered turns, gap jumps, drops and flat
sections.
"Ski cross is a sport with a certain risk, you will never be
able to exclude any kind of risk," said IOC President Thomas
Bach earlier on Saturday.
"We feel very sorry for the athlete. We are in contact with
the hospital. What we know is that she is under surgery right
now. We hope that the operation will be successful and that she
will be back."
Bach said he believed the accident had nothing to do with the infrastructure of the Olympic park.
"The first information is that it was nothing to do with the infrastructure, the snow conditions. It was in a training session and this unfortunate incident happened.”
The women's ski cross competition will be held on February 21, and due to the incident the Russian team will be presented by Anastasia Chirtsova and Julia Livinskaya.