Alyona Shchennikova has announced on her Instagram that she suffered an Achilles tear during the last national team training camp.
She wrote: “Right now, everything seems overwhelming and it has taken me some time to deal with this on my own before I could share what has happened. On Friday June 14th, during the Pan American verification, I ruptured my Achilles. This seemed like and still seems like such an impossible thing to have happened. It was very unexpected and it was very hard for me to come to terms with the fact that I needed surgery and will be missing my season. I am truly grateful that I had such amazing people by my side when this went down. It was very hard for me mentally and emotionally and I’m thankful that I had these people by my side, even in distance. I am happy that surgery went well and I can’t wait to be back in the gym training, but first…recovery!”
Shchennikova was trying to make the U.S. team for the Pan American Games. The injury will take her out of the rest of the season but she intends to come back and try for the Tokyo team.
Photo: Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation
