Canadian alpine ski team loses another member

ZAGREB, Croatia — The Canadian alpine ski team has lost yet another member to injury.

Anna Goodman of Pointe Claire, Que., suffered a suspected tear of the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee after crashing a few gates from the finish of Sunday’s opening run of the fifth World Cup slalom race of the season.

Alpine Canada medical director Dr. Christopher Irving said that Goodman would be returning to Canada for further assessment.

Sandrine Aubert of France earned the gold Sunday, her second slalom win in three races. Aubert, who sat fourth after the opening run on the Crveni Spust piste, won in a two-run combined time of two minutes 00.36 seconds. Austria’s Kathrin Zettel was second and Susanne Riesch of Germany third.

Brigitte Acton of Mont-Tremblant, Que., was the top Canadian, finishing 19th, and admitted her thoughts were with her injured teammate during the second run.

“That was definitely in the back of my head because she is definitely one of my closest friends and a strong teammate,” said Acton. “I just tried to keep my mind on what I had to do and race my race.

Overall I am continuing to be pretty consistent and I feel like my time will come soon.

“To see (Goodman) go down was really sad, but it happens in our sport. It’s tough to see one of your teammates go down. It makes you realize that it can happen to anybody.”

Acton has seen several of her Canadian teammates sidelined with injuries in recent weeks.

World downhill champion John Kucera broke his leg after crashing during a World Cup super-G race at Lake Louise in late November and will miss the Vancouver Olympic Games, as will Francois Bourque, Jean-Philippe Roy, Kelly VanderBeek and Larisa Yurkiw — all of whom are out with knee injuries.

In other results Sunday, Marie-Michele Gagnon of Lac-Etchemin, Que., failed to qualify for the second run, while Shona Rubens of Canmore, Alta., didn’t finish her opening run.