Injury ends Lambiel’s skating career
Former world champion figure skater Stéphane Lambiel has announced his retirement from competitions.
Lambiel said on Thursday that his retirement had been brought on as a result of a persistent thigh injury and would be effective immediately.
The 23-year-old added that he planned to continue to skate in gala performances.
The two-time world champion and Olympic silver medallist’s competitive career has come to a close after a difficult season in which he only reached fifth place in the 2008 World Figure Skating Championships in Sweden.
After the disappointment in Sweden he split from his long-time trainer Peter Grütter and switched to United States-based trainer Viktor Petrenko under whom he started working towards the 2010 Olympic Games. But his injury prevented him from training for several weeks.
The injury started causing him pain after his performance in Sweden, and despite medical treatment it proved impossible to get rid of the problem entirely.
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