Ski racer Courtney Hoffos latest Canadian athlete to have Olympic hopes dashed by injury | CBC Sports

Courtney Hoffos latest Canadian athlete to have Olympic hopes dashed by injury Fellow ski racer Sherret, snowboarder Brearley also to miss Milan-Cortina Winter Games With an Olympic berth secured, Canadian ski cross racer Courtney Hoffos could have eased off the gas pedal as she approached her second Winter Games in February, but that isn’t her style. Ski cross racer Courtney Hoffos of Windermere, B.C., secured a spot for the Milan-Cortina Olympics in February with a silver-medal performance in the big final of World Cup event on Dec. 11 in Val Thorens, France.(Eric Bolte/Agence Zoom/Getty Images/File) “I could’ve taken the safe route [but] I always race to compete and to push in every heat, even if I find myself vulnerable to contradict that in hindsight,” she wrote in an Instagram post on Monday. The native of Windermere, B.C., will miss the Milan-Cortina Winter Games following knee surgery after a recent crash during a World Cup competition in Arosa, Switzerland. Injuries have also quashed the Olympic dreams of two other Canadian hopefuls, ski cross racer India Sherret and snowboarder Liam Brearley. Hoffos had surgery to repair the tibial plateau, medial collateral ligament and meniscus. The tibial plateau is the flat, top surface of the shin bone while the meniscus is a piece of rubbery cartilage in the knee that cushions the thigh bone from the shin bone. "I'm incredibly grateful for my team, my family and the amazing hospital staff in Chur [Switzerland]," she wrote. "Now it’s time to focus on recovery, spend Christmas with my family and enjoy the other little things in my life.” WATCH | Hoffos recovering from knee surgery after Dec. 16 crash: Hoffos, 28, grabbed a silver medal in the big final of the World Cup season opener in Val Thorens, France on Dec. 11 to clinch a spot at the Milan-Cortina Winter Games. She returned to competition last season with a repaired anterior cruciate ligament in her knee after missing the entire campaign the previous year. Hoffos was seventh in the 2024-25 World Cup standings with three silver medals and a pair of bronze while also winning silver at the world championships. Sherret and Brearley also revealed on social media they would have to miss the Olympics because of knee injuries. Sherret, who competed at the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, announced she tore her ACL and MCL in a crash in Val Thorens on Dec. 12. Her surgery is scheduled for Jan. 27. "I’m devastated and that’s probably an understatement of how I’m feeling right now," Sherret, 29, from Cranbrook, B.C., said in her social media post. "I know there’s more to life than ski racing and more to my career than the Olympics, but almost every choice I’ve made the last four years has been with the Games in mind. "To lose it so quickly is crushing. I know I’ll come back stronger and all that but in this moment I’m just really, really sad." WATCH | Sherret injured in ski crash: Brearley,...

Preview: ~500 words