Palander's season over, as skier goes for leg operation

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Alpine skier Kalle Palander’s competition season has come to an abrupt end.
      Palander has a stress fracture in his shin. Helsingin Sanomat has learnt that the skier will undergo surgery to rectify the problem in Helsinki on Monday.
     
The operation will be carried out by the Finnish National Alpine Ski Team’s long-time doctor, orthopaedist Eero Hyvärinen, at the Dextra Hospital in Helsinki’s Munkkivuori.
      "There is a stress fracture in the anterior aspect of the outer layer of the tibia. Further examination is still needed to determine the severity of the problem", Hyvärinen said a week ago after having examined Palander’s lower leg.
     
Palander was to train and compete for the rest of the season, if the condition of his shin would permit. The operation was originally to be carried out after the season ends, in March. Now, however, it has proved necessary to bring forward the surgical intervention.
      "We want to prevent any further injuries. If the situation calls for it, we will advance the operation", Hyvärinen predicted a week ago.
     
The shin injury has troubled Palander for a year and a half now, but it got appreciably worse two weeks ago, just before the Kitzbühel World Cup slalom.
      This season Palander won one FIS Alpine Ski World Cup event. Just before Christmas he finished on top of the podium for the second time in a row in the giant slalom event in Italy’s Alta Badia.
      The injury first came to light in December 2006, just prior to that first victory in Alta Badia.
     
This is the second time in slightly less than two years that Palander has had to go under the surgeon's knife: he tore his anterior cruciate ligament on his left knee in March 2006 after a fall in Åre, and was operated on by Hyvärinen later that spring.
      Kalle Palander won the slalom World Championship title at Vail in 1999, and was the winner of the slalom World Cup in 2002-2003. He has won a total of 14 World Cup slalom and giant slalom competitions during his career.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Kalle Palander records third World Cup giant slalom win at Alta Badia (17.12.2007)
  Palander faces surgery (20.3.2006)

Links:
  Kalle Palander official site

Helsingin Sanomat