AUSTRIA – Amid a breakout world cup season and with the Winter Olympics Games less than 60 days away, Canadian biathlete Nadia Moser is recovering from a devastating injury and will be sidelined for an undetermined amount of time.
The 24-year-old Olympic hopeful broke her right ankle in a freak tobogganing accident before the IBU world cup in Hochfilzen, Austria.
“I'm extremely devastated to say that a couple days ago I took a tumble in a toboggan accident and my fibula broke, also accompanied by messed up ankle ligaments, all in my right leg,” Moser said in a social media post.
“I had to get surgery, which was more complicated than initially expected but everything went well and my leg and ankle are healing. Hopefully, I will be back sooner than expected and I know that when I return I will be better than before. In this Olympic season when everything was going in the right direction I am especially heartbroken about this situation, and now all I can do is try to recover as well as possible."
Moser, who trains in Canmore, is returning to Canada and said she isn’t sure what her recovery timeline is.
“[I'm] just going to take it day by day and see where that gets me,” she said to the Outlook.
The Whitehorse native was on the verge of having a breakout season and a strong candidate to qualify for the Beijing Games starting Feb. 4.
Less than two weeks before her injury, Moser scored a career best 27th in the women’s 15-kilometre at the first world cup of the season in Sweden.
For Canada's mixed relay team, Moser was essentially a lock to fill the second women spot in the mixed relay to race alongside teammates Emma Lunder, Scott Gow and Christian Gow in Beijing.
In a Nov. 25 interview with the Outlook, Biathlon Canada head coach Justin Wadsworth praised Moser's "monumental step forward" in the off-season.
"We're really excited to see Nadia's ranking on the world cup this year just because she has really taken a step forward that you don't see that often from athletes; it's actually been that big," said Wadsworth.
.png;w=120;h=80;mode=crop)
