Just months from fulfilling a dream of competing in the 2006 Winter Olympics, Noelle Pikus-Pace, a medal hopeful from Orem and defending overall World Cup skeleton champion, broke her leg Wednesday during a freak accident on the ice track at Calgary Olympic Park.
Pikus-Pace, 22, was injured when an American four-man bobsled slammed into her during a competition. Pikus-Pace was waiting with two other sliders when the bobsled overran the stop area and struck her, according to the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation. The other two athletes, Tristan Gale and Lee Ann Parsley, suffered minor injuries.
Lee Pikus, Noelle's father, told the Deseret Morning News that the bobsled that struck his daughter was manned by inexperienced bobsled riders. He said the sled jumped off the track. Pikus-Pace had her back turned and did not see the sled coming.
"I'm just glad she's OK," Pikus said.
Pikus-Pace was transported to a hospital in Calgary, Canada, where she underwent surgery for a compound fracture of her lower leg, four inches above the ankle, and doctors inserted screws in the leg, Lee Pikus said. Pikus-Pace won't be able to walk for three weeks and it could be as long as six weeks before she can do more than that.
It was not immediately known how long Pikus-Pace's recovery would take or whether she could compete in the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, according to federation spokesman Tom LaDue.
Pikus said his daughter's future is up in the air. "There's a lot to be determined," he said.
Pikus-Pace was scheduled to compete through Sunday in the trials to select the U.S. team to the World Cup.
Pikus-Pace's mother, Patricia, and the athlete's husband, Janson, flew from Salt Lake City to Calgary on Wednesday to be with her.
"All I know is there was an accident and she's out for the season," Janson Pace told KSL-TV. "So, not much we can do about it. We're just gonna go up and support her and be with her."
Pikus-Pace earned international acclaim last winter by winning the overall World Cup skeleton title — the first American male or female to do so — and placing second in the 2005 World Championships. A Utah Valley State College graduate and track athlete, she was considered a medal favorite in women's skeleton at the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics, scheduled for February in Italy.
The U.S. skeleton team was in Calgary this week, training for the final two rounds of national team qualifications. Trials had started with a pair of runs last weekend at Lake Placid, N.Y., with the top 12 each in the men's and women's division advancing to the Calgary finals.
Considered to have one of the fastest push starts in the sport internationally, Pikus-Pace was leading the women's division at the mid-point with a two-run combined time of 1 minute, 56.85 seconds, ahead of 2002 gold-medalist Gale of Salt Lake City, who was in third place. Gale won the inaugural women's skeleton event, held at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, with teammate Parsley finishing second for the silver. American Jim Shea Jr. won the men's gold.
The top finishers in the national team trials qualify to represent the United States in the 2005-06 World Cup season and become the frontrunners for Team USA in the 2006 Torino Games.
Ironically, Calgary was not only the site where Pikus-Pace finished the 2004-05 season by placing second in the World Championships but also the track where the upcoming World Cup season was to kick off.
A prep track standout at Mountain View High, she initially was encouraged by Bruin coaches to try her hand at bobsled and she began her winter sports career as a bobsledder.
Last summer, Pikus-Pace told the Deseret Morning News that when someone suggested she change over to skeleton, she resisted.
"I wasn't happy about it," she said. "I didn't want to do the skeleton, but after the first time, I was hooked. They slapped a helmet on me and kicked me off. I was screaming the whole way down. At first it was out of fright. But by the end it was out of enthusiasm."
She did well initially as a junior in the skeleton but finished 14th in the 2003-04 World Cup tour, topping out with a pair of 11th-place finishes in individual races.
Last winter she won two of the first three World Cup races, finishing the season with three golds, a silver, a bronze and the women's World Cup Grand Prix championship — the first overall title ever claimed by an American male or female skeleton slider.
After the conclusion of World Cup events, she placed second in the 2005 World Championships, held in Calgary.
The 2005-06 World Cup season is scheduled to start in Calgary in early November and move to Lake Placid the following week, with training on Torino's Olympic track slated for late November.
Pikus-Pace, an Orem native who married childhood sweetheart Janson Pace three years ago, graduated with her husband from UVSC in April. She received her degree in community health and education.
Rather than opt for a professional winter-sports career — which could have led to substantial sponsorship contracts leading into an Olympic year — Pikus-Pace opted to retain her amateur status as a college athlete, completing her NCAA eligibility last spring by competing in the discus and heptathlon events with the UVSC women's track and field team.
Contributing: Jeff Call, Dick Harmon and Scott Taylor, Deseret Morning News; KSL-TV; The Associated Press