Kimura is badly injured
Japan's ace skier Kiminobu Kimura had a serious fall during practice for
the national championships in Katashina, Gunma Prefecture on Mar. 29.
He crashed into the fence from the right side of his body. and was then taken to the hospital.
He was diagnosed with broken areas in his forearm, and is believed also to have
seriously injured the ligaments in his right knee.
He will need to undergo further checkup.
Kimura is 3rd for the first time
It depended on how the remaining 2 skiers did following Kiminobu Kimura in the 2nd round
in the slalom at the World Cup in Switzerland.
Alberto Tomba of Italy, who was 2nd after the 1st attempt lost control
and retired. This accident gave Kimura 3rd place. It's the highest he's ever
gone in the World Cup. He is only the 3rd Japanese to place 3rd following
Tetsuya Okabe in the men's slalom twice and Emi Kawabata in the women's downhill once.
Kimura 4th at World Cup
Japan's top skier, Kiminobu Kimura finished the World Cup slalom in
Kranjska Gora in Slovenia on Jan. 4, 4th place.
It's the second time since the World Cup in March 1997, that he's performed so well.
In his first attempt, he was actually only 13th place, so he
improved his time in the last 2 races tremendously.
The winner was Thomas Sykora of Austria.