FILE PHOTO: Luge – Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics – Men’s Singles Competition – Olympic Sliding Centre – Pyeongchang, South Korea – February 11, 2018 – Mateusz Sochowicz of Poland in action. REUTERS/Edgar Su
January 21, 2022
(Reuters) – Polish luger Mateusz Sochowicz returned to the track on Friday, just in time to compete in next month’s Winter Olympics in Beijing after undergoing surgery following a training crash in November.
Sochowicz finished 10th in the men’s singles at the Nations Cup in St Moritz, Switzerland and qualified for the European Championships and the World Cup final, which begins on Saturday.
The 25-year-old, who also took part in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, was on Wednesday named in Poland’s four-person luge squad for the Feb. 4-20 Beijing Games.
Sochowicz suffered a serious injury in November when he hit a closed barrier that should have been open during a training session on the Olympic track in Yanqing. He later underwent surgery to repair his left knee cap.
The International Luge Federation (FIL) said the accident was due to “human error” and, together with the track operator in Yanqing, introduced additional safety measures for the Beijing Games.
(Reporting by Silvia Recchimuzzi in Gdansk; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
