Krako in recovery after knee surgery

“I hope that next season I can come in the best form and repair my previous Panorama’s performance.”

Slovakia’s four-time Paralympic champion Jakub Krako is facing a season out after a knee injury sustained before the 2015 IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships turned out to be more serious than it was initially thought.

Krako was competing at the IPC Alpine Skiing NorAm Cup in Kimberley, Canada, in February 2015 in just the week before the World Championships when he got injured.

He says that the doctors advised him it was nothing serious and he went on to compete at the World Championships in Panorama.

“In Kimberley, I became injured,” Krako said. “The doctor in Canada said to me it was OK but I knew that it was bad. My knee was imbalanced and I couldn’t control it.”

On his return to Slovakia, Jakub discovered that his injury was indeed more serious. “When I came home, after a MRI the doctors said to me that I needed surgery in my knee and the diagnosis was clear, I had a front torn ligament.”

Krako feels that the injury contributed to his performance at the Worlds, where he failed to reach the podium in any of his events. “Panorama could be the worst performance of my life but my injury was the reason for that.”

He underwent surgery in June but the recovery process will mean he misses out on competing during the 2015-16 season.

“It will be eight months for my knee to be good and one year to be perfect for hard training. Therefore, I cannot train on snow now and cannot ski yet. I will try to repair my knee as well as possible and try to improve my overall physical health.”

His doctors have suggested the possibility of getting back on the snow in January. However this will only be an experiment, not to race.

Despite this halt in his skiing career, the 25-year-old is hoping to make a full recovery and is already looking ahead to the 2016-17 season.

“I hope that next season I can come in the best form and repair my previous Panorama’s performance,” he said.

The 2015-16 IPC Alpine Skiing season continues in Landgraaf, the Netherlands, with a Europa Cup on 19 November.

The full calendar can be found at IPC Alpine Skiing’s website.