Olympic-Alpine skiing-France's Alphand to brave Olympic downhill with injured wrist

BORMIO, Italy, Feb 5 : French skier Nils Alphand was forced to strap his hand to his pole to get down the punishing Stelvio Olympic downhill course in the second training run on Thursday, but said a wrist injury would not stop him from competing in Saturday's race.

The veteran skier hurt his wrist on Wednesday after hitting his hand against the icy surface of the snow during the first of three training sessions planned ahead of the highly anticipated downhill race that will offer up the first Alpine skiing gold at the Winter Games in Italy.

Alphand completed Thursday’s training session in 31st place. 

"I have a little pain when I close my fingers, so I’m struggling to hold the pole,” he told Reuters from the French team’s hotel in Bormio, his wrist locked in a brace, visibly swollen and purple-tinged. “That’s why I had some tape to hold it. It’s more stable like that.”

“It’s not broken,”  he added.

The 29‑year‑old said the wrist limited him in the training run, but he expects to improve with each day.

“Today was the first training since the small injury, so I had to stay good on my skis. For Saturday, it will be better. I will push,” he said.

Alphand plans to attempt the last of three training runs on Friday but will adjust his strategy based on how his wrist responds.

“If it’s good like today, I will go (all the way) to the finish. If it’s only good on the top, maybe I will stop in the middle,” he said.

Asked whether he would definitely start Saturday’s downhill, Alphand didn’t hesitate: “Yep.”