Olympic off!

Shocking diagnosis for slalom hope - "My heart is still broken"

Created: 12/21/2021, 3:58 PM

By: Antonio José Riether

Martina Peterlini was seriously injured in her fall in the Ahrntal.

© Screenshot Instagram (@martinapeterlini)

Just a few weeks before the Olympics, the Italian slalom runner Martina Peterlini fell, and shortly afterwards she announced her disaster diagnosis.

Bolzano - Winter sports enthusiasts from all over the world are currently preparing for the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, which will start in early February.

The Italian winter sports association FISI, with its female skiers, is a hot candidate for medals, especially in the slalom, a few weeks before the start of the games, the association has to cope with a bitter setback.

Ski hope Martina Peterlini will miss the upcoming major event after her momentous fall last week, now she announced her devastating diagnosis.

Martina Peterlini: Italy's Olympic hope suffers total loss in the knee after a fall

On Thursday, the 24-year-old competed in the European Cup slalom in Ahrntal, and her fatal fall occurred in the second round. The South Tyrolean was taken away in great pain and taken to the Bolzano hospital. Peterlini confirms this on Instagram. "Yesterday I (...) tore my anterior cruciate ligament, the menisci and a collateral ligament," the student told her fans in an emotional message.

After her bandage announced an immediate operation on the day of the accident, Peterlini came under the knife the next day.

"The operation went well, but my heart is still broken," she writes under a black and white picture of the hospital bed.

Instead of the Olympics, it is now rehab for the depressed athlete from Rovereto.

Martina Peterlini: early setbacks for ski hope - Italian does not want to give up

During the bad scenes on Thursday, Peterlini must have thought of her past.

In her adolescence, she had already suffered a number of injuries that kept slowing her down.

After the early setbacks, the northern Italian concentrated on the technical disciplines of slalom and giant slalom.

At the age of 20, she finally made her World Cup debut in 2017, and in the ranking of the past season she finished 72nd.

“I was told that time heals everything.

And once again I would like to try to believe in it, ”continues the sportswoman.

Apparently she doesn't want to give up her last disastrous injury and attack again.

In Beijing, however, the Italian women's team will have to do without them.