THE CANADIAN PRESS
The season is over for Canadian speedskater Jeremy Wotherspoon.
The veteran long-tracker said his broken left arm needs more time to heal and he won’t compete at next month’s world single distances championship.
Wotherspoon needed surgery after he crashed in his second World Cup 500-metre race of the season Nov. 8. He hoped to return at the season-ending March 12-15 event at the Richmond Olympic Oval, but said Wednesday he won’t be ready.
"That would have been a nice opportunity for me but it’s not going to happen," Wotherspoon said on a conference call. "My plans have changed and I’ll have all next season to get used to this facility so I’m going to take advantage of that."
When Wotherspoon crashed in Berlin, the original diagnosis was a clean break of his humerus, which is the bone that runs from his shoulder to his elbow. However, when he returned to Calgary doctors discovered during surgery he had a more serious spiral fracture, with his arm bone in six pieces.
Wotherspoon said his surgeon told him this week the arm is healing but there’s still some displacement and gaps that have to fill in.
"He said it’s pretty solid but that if I fell going hard skating that there would be a pretty high risk of re-injuring it," Wotherspoon said. "So I have to make my goal right now to be healthy and ready to train at full capacity by the beginning of next season which is around May 1.
"So that’s my plan for now."
Wotherspoon, 32, of Red Deer, Alta., sat out the entire 2006-’07 World Cup season and returned to his sport better than ever.
He set a world record in the 500 metres in his first race with a time of 34.03 seconds. Wotherspoon won 12 World Cup medals, including eight gold, and also claimed the world title in the 500 last season.
He will spend the next few months continuing his regimen of on-ice work, rehabilitation and training. Wotherspoon noted he relies on the arm to generate power and help with balance, especially in sprints.
"I guess I didn’t realize how much I needed it until I started skating again," he said.
Wotherspoon won an Olympic silver medal in the 500 in 1998, but missed the podium at the last two Games. He hopes that training in Richmond will help lead to a successful performance at the 2010 Games.
"Everyone I know in my sport who got to compete in their home country in the Olympics has said it’s an incredible experience and that it was like no other Olympics that they’ve been at," Wotherspoon said. "That’s something I’d like to experience."