Next drama about Luitz
German ski star is seriously injured
October 18, 2023, 12:42 a.m
Shock for Stefan Luitz: The ski racer broke his ankle during training and will probably miss the World Cup season completely. He had only ruled out ending his career in the summer after making his comeback the previous winter following a slipped disc.
German ski racer Stefan Luitz suffered a serious foot injury during training and will be out for a longer period of time. The 31-year-old broke his right ankle and tore his syndesmosis ligament during training in Austria, as the German Ski Association announced on Tuesday. Luitz suffered the injury on Monday while pulling in during giant slalom training on the Pitztal Glacier. The veteran will undergo surgery in the next few days – there was initially no forecast about the downtime.
Luitz will continue to be plagued by bad luck in the autumn of his World Cup career. The Allgäu native was slowed down several times by injuries, some of them serious. In the previous season he no longer achieved satisfactory performances, so the giant slalom specialist lost his funding status in Germany in the summer. He thought about ending his career.
The father then decided to continue his active career and joined an international training group. He also changed ski brands and was recently satisfied with the training in New Zealand, among other places. “I feel very comfortable and am having fun,” Luitz said in a Bayerischer Rundfunk podcast a few days ago. It was initially unclear what impact the ankle injury would have on his future as a competitive athlete or a possible retirement.
Luitz was one of the best German giant slalom riders for years and celebrated a World Cup victory. The athlete from SC Bolsterlang had to fight for months in front of sports courts for this success in December 2018 in Beaver Creek (USA) because he was subsequently disqualified for taking artificial oxygen. In the end, the CAS sports court awarded him success. After that, however, he was no longer able to match his achievements from previous years.