October 08, 2014 (Deer Valley, Utah) – Rising US cross-country ski star, Sophie Caldwell, suffered a broken elbow on Monday in Park City, Utah where she and her USST members are on site for their annual altitude training camp. Caldwell was with her former Stratton Mountain coach, Gus Kaeding, when the accident happened – see  update from US Women’s Team Coach Matt Whitcomb below.

This is the second elbow injury for the 24-year-old standout this season as she crashed while mountain-biking at the team’s training camp in Bend, Oregon in May – read more here. “Two elbows in one summer could be bad luck, but good luck is having the best teammates and friends in the world,” tweeted Caldwell on Oct 6.

Her surgery was a success and Caldwell is on the road to recovery according to her father Sverre, “The surgery seems to have gone well and hopefully she will have full use of her elbow in about 6 weeks. She should be able to resume training soon,” he told Trax by email.

Despite her misfortune and a cast on her left arm (she injured her right elbow in Bend), Caldwell is taking it all in stride with support of friends like Parker Tyler and well-wishers from across the country.

“Thanks for all the nice notes. Surgery went well and spongebob and I are in good hands! @ Deer Valley…” she tweeted today.

Caldwell distinguished herself this past season at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics claiming 6th in the FR sprint, the best all-time result by a female US cross-country skier at the Games. Her place third at the World Cup in Lahti, Finland secured her first individual sprint FR podium on the esteemed world class circuit.

SkiTrax wishes Caldwell a speedy recovery.

Caldwell Update from US Women’s Team Coach Matt Whitcomb

Sophie Caldwell tripped on a low-strung cable in the Park City Mountain Resort parking lot as she was walking from her car to the running trails. The cable suspended her feet as she fell so she hit with a lot of force on her left elbow.

She broke a large chunk of the outside of her elbow – the lateral epicondyle of the humerus.  It was a clean break and the cartilage was not damaged.  A Park City specialist was able to get her into surgery within 30 hour of the accident.  We are grateful for the support we received from Dr. Patrick Olson and the Park City Hospital.

The surgery went very well.  She has one screw and one pin that will likely be permanent features, so when we talk about having sharp elbows in sprinting, Sophie has now taken that to the next level.

She is in a hard splint for two weeks, after which she will be placed in a removable splint and will begin working on mobility immediately.  The bone should heal completely after 6 weeks.

Sophie will remain in Park City for the next two weeks to take advantage of some controlled training environments, a large rehab facility and staff at the C.O.E, and to complete her altitude training camp.

She will begin light exercise either Thursday or Friday.

We are still discussing bringing Sophie to the period 1 World Cups as she will be able to begin using poles at that time and there is likely to be early snow in Finland.  We will be conservative with her return to competition, but we will be aggressive with pushing safe training early to maintain her awesome fitness gains this year and to encourage healthy bone recovery.

This accident is not a lost season. Sophie will likely see some race starts in Period 1 if our medical staff and coaching team feels it is appropriate.

Sophie’s spirit is unflappable and the team is taking good care of her.