Alpine Skiing

AVON, COLO. -- The explanation of the broken leg that has cost John Kucera a chance at the only at-home Olympics of his ski career was clinical. The spectacle was ugly.

"It's a significant compound fracture of his left tibia and fibula and associated soft-tissue injury," team doctor Chris Irving said on a conference call.

Translation: As Kucera hit a berm and cartwheeled hopelessly out of control at high speed, his left ski did not release; both upper and lower leg bones were broken and jagged; one of the bones pierced through the calf muscle and skin of Kucera's leg. He was lifted by helicopter off the mountain in a basket, asking for medications, and taken immediately for surgery. The bones are being held in place by a metal rod and it will be six to eight weeks before he can even put weight on it.

"Honestly, it's a bit of a bummer," said Kucera, who remains in Banff's Mineral Spring Hospital where he underwent surgery Sunday. His teammates on the tight squad of Canadians in speed events - three of whom placed in the top five and could have been celebrating - were there as he was rolled out of surgery. "And that was cool," Kucera said.

Kucera, 25, of Calgary said he knew the minute he was injured that the 2010 Olympics were no longer on his agenda. But at the same time he was able to rationalize and put the disappointment into perspective.

"Missing an Olympics in my home country is a bit of a bummer, but I have goals associated with the World Cup, too, and have at least a couple if not three Olympics in my career.

"On the good side, I know I did qualify to be on this team. Now, I'll just look ahead to the 2010-11 season. Obviously, it turns the tables on an individual."

The defending World Champion in the downhill, Kucera was having a good run on the Lake Louise Super-G course, within a couple of tenths of a second of winning teammate Manuel Osborne-Paradis of North Vancouver, B.C., "and could have given him a run for his money if I finished."

The loss is "a huge blow," to Canada's Olympic medal chances said Max Gartner, Alpine Canada's chief athletics officer.

The injury wiped out more than one of the best chances Canada has for a medal. It was a chance for Kucera to leave a big print in Canadian sport history. The marquee men's downhill is one of the first gold medal events of the 2010 Games, and Kucera, as reigning downhill world champion could have presented the home crowd with the first Olympic gold by a Canadian at an Olympics on Canadian soil.

The super G was as good, if not better, medal chance for Kucera. Alpine Canada predicted three medals for Canadians in the 10 medal events.

Despite the loss of Kucera, Canadians were a powerhouse in the super G at Lake Louise. Osborne-Paradis won while Erik Guay of Mont-Tremblant, Que., placed fourth and Robbie Dixon of North Vancouver was fifth.

Gartner said the results show the depth of the Canadian program and he figured on "about 10 athletes that have medal potential."

Dixon, 24, showed his potential by finishing eighth in the downhill. That followed a 16th-place finish in the opening giant slalom of the season. As bad as the news was for Kucera, the reduction of crowding in the speed ranks gets Dixon on the squad.

"Robbie was just unbelievable," Gartner said in Lake Louise. "He has been training fantastically over the last two seasons. This seems to be the first year where he is showing, in all the events, he can do it on race day."

Guay, who aggravated a back injury during the off-season, bounced back in the super G after finishing 21st in the downhill.

Gartner said it was a much-needed dose of confidence. "He was not really in form coming into Lake Louise. I think he was quite down about his performance and level of skiing."

Kucera said even if he cannot participate at Whistler during the Olympics, he wanted to be at the site, partly because he'd earned a place and partly because it was his turn to come out for his teammates.

"I think they know I'm here for them ... I'd like to make the trip up there."