Frederic Daigle, The Canadian Press
BEAUPRÉ, Que. — Quebec snowboarder Audrey McManiman did not start the second day of competition at the Mont-Ste-Anne Snowboard Cross World Cup on Sunday.
McManiman, who has been struggling with a left knee ligament injury for several months, was involved in a fall with France’s Manon Petit-Lenoir in the first wave of the quarter-finals on Saturday. She had settled for 16th place, after taking first place in qualifying on Friday.
This fall proved to be too much for his knee at the end of a busy month of March for snowboarders.
“I did all my recovery (Saturday) evening. But when I got up this morning, I understood that it would not be a good day for my knee and therefore for me, ”said McManiman, who came to meet the media on site.
“It was really this morning that I felt I had a problem. There was a little swelling. I got up really early to go do my warm-ups. I had an appointment with the physio and we went to work out in the gym to see how things were going. It was wrong. We decided to go with caution and not to start.
McManiman will have to think about what happens next: surgery to fix the problem would rob her of a full season on the World Cup circuit.
Although the timing would be perfect — the Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Olympics are only three years away and there’s no World Championship on the schedule next season — McManiman doesn’t seem ready to opt for this choice now.
“I will take the rest I need. We had a really busy month at the end of the season. I have a term of university to finish, I will concentrate on that. By then, I will have made a decision. I will make the best decision possible with my team.
“It’s clear that I have Italy in mind in three years, it’s cast in stone. Whether I have surgery and miss next season or not, I will decide later.
McManiman has had solid results since the start of 2023. She won the second Nor-Am Cup event in Park City, Utah, in February, in addition to recording three other top-5s. On the World Cup circuit, she had just finished fifth, fourth and eighth before the race weekend at Mont-Ste-Anne.
“I was really confident in my knee. I did everything I had to do (for the season). I hardly had a vacation last summer to make sure my knee was going to be strong this year. I had confidence. I think it was too much for my knee.”
