ALPINE:

Kucera focuses on future, not rushing back to start gate

Nov. 26, 2010 — The Canadian Press 

LAKE LOUISE, Alberta — It was the spot on the mountain where his leg was mangled, his Olympic dreams shattered.

Downhill racer John Kucera skied by that place without a thought Friday. No bad vibes, no apprehension. He even managed to joke about it with his teammates.

It's been a year since Kucera shattered two bones in his left leg in a devastating crash during the first World Cup super-G race of last year at Lake Louise, Alta. It ended his season and left him a spectator at the Vancouver Olympic Games.

After a long, sometimes painful year of rehabilitation, Kucera has been back skiing for about seven days. But Friday was the first time he actually stopped and looked at where the accident happened.

"I have no ill feelings or anything like that," the 26-year-old from Calgary told a news conference. "It was an unfortunate situation.

"I took some risks to make up some time. That crash is quite common. That's bad luck and that's the nature of the sport sometimes. I'm over it."

Kucera was in Lake Louise to watch the final training for Saturday's first downhill of the World Cup season. He hopes to return to racing in the new year, but also accepts he might miss another season recovering.

"It's not about this year," he said. "It's about the next eight, nine, 10 years of my career and my life after this.

"From a physical standpoint I feel quite strong and ready. I have all my strength back. I'm just getting back on snow. There is a lot of work to do and there is still a long ways to go before I'm ready to compete."

There's a chance Kucera will miss February's alpien World Championships at Garmisch-Partenkircken, Germany. He won the downhill race at the 2009 championships.

"I'd love to have the opportunity to defend my title," Kucera said. "If I things go incredibly well, and I feel ready, then we will go for that.

"This year is not going to be the year that defines my career. I want to be ready when I come back so I can compete and be competitive. If that means it's not this year and it's next year, that's what it is."

Kucera was in contention for a podium finish last year when he crashed at speeds of about 100 kilometres an hour, breaking his tibia and fibula. The impact was so violent a bone tore through the back of his left leg. His foot was left hanging, attached by the skin alone.

He underwent surgery to have a rod inserted through the tibia.

Kent Kobelka, Alpine Canada's head physiotherapist, rode with Kucera in the ambulance to the hospital. He knew the long road Kucera was going to have to travel.

"We felt the soft tissue damage and the nerve damage would be the limiting factor," Kobelka said. "It would slow us down.

"Right from the start John knew it was going to be a huge undertaking. There was no question he was going to get back."

Alpine Canada officials won't rush Kucera back.

"John is a young guy," said Kobelka. "He has a lot of years ahead of him.

"There is no way we're going to take a chance of risking an athlete of this calibre."

Paul Kristofic, head coach of the men's team, said Kucera might do some forerunning at races in January.

"It's a long, slow process where there is a lot of checkpoints along the way," said Kristofic. "You start to change the stimulus as far as the difficulty of the terrain, the course settings, the hardness of the snow.

"How he reacts at all those stages are kind of unknown at this point. So far he has been reacting really well."

Kucera was considered a medal threat in both downhill and super-G at the Vancouver Olympics. Besides his World Championships gold medal, he has three podium finishes, including a win, on the World Cup circuit.

Missing the chance to race an Olympics on home soil was a bitter pill Kucera has managed to swallow.

"Ski racing is a dangerous sport," he said. "That's the risk we all accept.

"For me, it was something I came to terms with very quickly. Laying there [in hospital] I realized it was something I couldn't change. My focus changed from competing at the Olympic Games to coming back and continuing on this path."

Kucera's teammates were happy to see him back at the hill.

"It feels more like a complete team," said Erik Guay.

After Kucera's fall, Manuel Osborne-Paradis went on to win the race, the only super-G victory of his career.

The two friends talked about that on the hill Friday.

"I ran into John on the turn where he broke his leg," said Osborne-Paradis. "We were talking about how that's where I won the race and that's where he lost it.

"We can joke about it now. Maybe a couple of months ago we wouldn't have wanted to joke about it."

Kucera has managed to keep his sense of humour during his recovery.

During the press conference he was asked if he spent any time last year attending school.

"I think for skiers it's better to be a little dumber so we can go a little faster," he said with a smile.   S-Magazine