Bad break (literally) for Chris Klug

[Pat Donnelly]

By Michael Conniff/Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

The hopes and cheers for local hero Chris Klug of Aspen came crashing to earth Friday afternoon in the worst possible fashion when the Olympic bronze medallist fell during ESPN Winter X Games IX at Buttermilk Ski Area, and broke his clavicle "crossing the damn finish line."

Klug's friend, Dr. Tom Pevny at Aspen Valley Hospital, will perform surgery on the Aspen snowboarding star this morning. The prognosis: Klug is out for at least six weeks.

"It wasn't the course," Klug said. "The course was fine. I hurt myself crossing the damn finish line. I was shutting it down because I was going pretty fast. I was coming in so hot I was afraid I was going to hurt the audience. I panicked and caught an edge."

"You could tell immediately something was wrong with his shoulder," said Missy April, Klug's girlfriend. "He had a violent fall and he grabbed his shoulder. He touched it and the bone moved back and forth."

Klug is the recipient of a liver transplant but the injury in the Snowboarder X qualifier is his first ever as a snowboarder -- and it comes at a particularly inopportune time. Klug, 32, was literally ready to board an airplane this afternoon after the competition to fly to Slovenia for a training session with the United States Olympic team in preparation for the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turino, Italy.

"They're going to the Olympic hill," Klug said of his teammates. "It's a dress rehearsal. That's the real bummer. I said to myself after this happened: 'What was I thinking?' I was out of control from top to bottom. It was pretty sketchy."

Adding insult to injury, the crash came in a dangerous event that Klug has only done twice in his life -- giant slalom is his forte -- and the irony is that Klug did not even come close to qualifying. His time of 1:00.19 in the time trial Friday was good for just 25th place, with only the top 18 qualifying, though Klug had broken his collarbone before he knew the result. Klug came in 15th at the U.S. Snowboarding Championships in Whistler, B.C., this winter

"It was fun," he said of competing in only his second X Games. "But it's not the safest thing. My specialty is turning and there's not a damn turn in the course. The X Games were still fun but my focus is on the Olympics."

Klug, known in the Roaring Fork Valley for his equanimity, displayed his resilience Friday night by going right from the hospital to a book-signing at the Explore Book Store, where friends and admirers came by to pay their respects as the Percoset took effect. The name of his book: "To The Edge and Back."

michael@aspendailynews.com

[LeeW]

Get well soon, you percoset-saturated racer!!!! Really!

Lee