Marianne Timmer injured in fall at World Cup race

HEERENVEEN, Netherlands (AP)—Two-time Olympic speedskating champion Marianne Timmer will be out for about a month after injuring her left ankle Friday in a rough fall during a race.

Timmer’s coach, Jac Orie, said she sustained a light rupture in a left ankle tendon when she slammed into inflatable barriers at the Heerenveen stadium.

Timmer screamed in pain after the crash, which was caused when Chinese skater Jing Yu fell in front of her. Both skaters were carried off the ice on stretchers. Timmer was treated at a hospital and had her ankle taped before returning to the team hotel, Orie said.

“We have to wait and see now. She will be out for something like four weeks,” he said.

Asked what the crash meant for his skater’s preparations for the Vancouver Games in February, Orie shrugged and said: “It’s not perfect.”

“She is very worried about the season and Olympic qualification,” he said.

Timmer won the 1,000-meter race at the 2006 Olympics in Turin and the same race in Nagano eight years earlier.