Worlds result came after

Whistlerite tore ACL

MARCH 2, 2022

ERIC MACKENZIE

[email protected]

Julia Murray’s world championship ski cross silver medal was an enormous feat for the Whistler native, but a recent update on her knee injury has made the result all that more impressive.

Alpine Canada announced Friday (Feb. 25) that the 22-year-old finished on the Worlds podium at Deer Valley, Utah, despite skiing with a torn ACL that she suffered only a week before in a fall at the X Games. She will undergo surgery in the near future and won’t compete for the remainder of the season.

“If I looked back a year and somebody told me I was going to come second at Worlds with a blown ACL, I would definitely not have believed it,” Murray laughed in an interview with The Question on Tuesday (March 1).

After her silver medal performance on Feb. 4, Murray announced she would ski the World Cup event the following week at Blue Mountain, Ont., before having her knee scoped and taking some time off. It wasn’t until further examination was done on her left knee — the same one that suffered a partial ACL tear prior to the Olympics last year — that Murray found out it was a more serious injury.

“I had no idea. It was completely different from the first time I blew it,” she said.

“I think it was a shock to the doctor as well, because all of the physios plus the surgeon had felt my knee before… and testing the ACL, it felt like it was stretched but attached still.”

Whistler’s Ashleigh McIvor also tore her ACL at the X Games and is done for the year, while fellow local Marielle Thompson was set to resume her World Cup season this week after having surgery on her thumb following an X Games injury.

Meanwhile, Whistler’s Stan Rey won’t race again this season after groin and pelvic injuries suffered in a fall at Blue Mountain, and Canadian women’s star Kelsey Serwa was also skiing through pain at Deer Valley.

Murray said it’s tough to explain what’s causing the rash of injuries this season.

“I don’t really understand it. Last year I thought was kind of bad, but this year is definitely worse,” she said. “Some people say that the year after the Olympics there are quite a few injuries because people don’t train as hard, but I definitely trained as hard this summer from rehabbing and everything. I don’t know what everyone else’s circumstances are, but it’s definitely strange.”

Murray did say that while athletes’ input on course features are often taken into consideration, the way ski cross courses are laid out is a possible factor.

“Some of the European courses that we’re on, they just kind of build a wedge with a flat landing and don’t really build a transition for it,” she said. “That kind of stuff beats away at some people.

“Also, some of the starts… go straight into a couple of features that don’t really separate people and then right into a sharp turn. That’s where a lot of stuff happens — people run into people unintentionally; people go down and hurt themselves.”

Murray also has some cartilage damage that will need to heal before she’s back to 100 per cent. Having already gone through the rehab process last year, Murray said she has a good idea of how she’ll approach the off-season to get ready for the 2012 campaign.

“I’m definitely not going to rush into anything this season,” she said. “I had no experience last time and I just wanted to start skiing again and get my ski legs back so badly. I guess I’ll take things a little more slowly.

“It’s a bit of a longer rehab than last year, but I’ll just have to take it day by day.”