Canadian ski racer Manuel Osborne-Paradis was released from hospital on Thursday, Dec. 6, 15 days after breaking his leg in a crash in Lake Louise, Alta.
The man known as Manny crashed during the first World Cup training day of the season on Nov. 21, suffering a complex tibial plateau fracture to his left leg. Osborne-Paradis was airlifted off the mountain by helicopter and taken to hospital in Calgary where he received reconstruction and soft tissue management surgery.
“I entered into the 2018/19 World Cup season healthy, fit and ready to compete,” Osborne-Paradis stated in an Alpine Canada release. “Unfortunately this set back at the start of the season was not how I wanted to begin the year. My doctors are optimistic that based on my top physical conditioning and the success of the surgeries, I will be on-track for a timely recovery and into a back to snow plan as per schedule.”
Osborne-Paradis has kept up his social media game while recovering, sending out two Instagram posts during his hospital stay.
“Up shit’s creek,” reads the caption alongside his first offering sent the day after the crash, showing him laid up in a hospital bed with surrounded by a number of tubes and a thick black brace on his leg.
Osborne-Paradis looked much more chipper in the next shot, a Dec. 5 photo showing him standing and smiling while leaning on a walker.
“I’m sad I’ll miss the tour this year,” stated Osborne-Paradis in the Alpine Canada release. "But I am very excited to cheer on my teammates and see what kind of momentum Val Grenier’s 5th place in Lake Louise will bring to our team.”
The North Vancouver native, who now lives in Invermere, B.C., has competed on the Canadian men’s alpine speed team since 2004 and participated in four Olympic Games. He won bronze in super-G at the 2017 World Championships in St-Moritz and has claimed 11 World Cup podiums over the course of his career.
