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Austrian ski jumper partially paralyzed after crash

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FILE - This is a Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2009 file photo of Austria\'s Lukas Mueller reacts after the first event of the four hills ski jumping tournament in Oberstdorf, southern Germany. Austrian ski jumper Lukas Mueller was hospitalized Wednesday Jan. 13, 2016 with a suspected spine injury after crashing during test flying on the world championship hill. The Austria Press Agency says an equipment problem caused Mueller to fall after landing a 120-meter jump in heavy snowfall, and that the Austrian briefly lost consciousness (AP Photo/ Matthias Schrader, File)

GRAZ, Austria – Doctors say Austrian ski jumper Lukas Mueller has been left partially paralyzed after crashing in practice for the sky flying world championship.

Mueller sustained an “incomplete paraplegia” and has some sensitivity in his legs, according to chief surgeon Franz-Josef Seibert of the Graz hospital, where Mueller had emergency surgery on his spine Wednesday.

Doctors operated to stabilize his spine after a fracture between the sixth and seventh vertebrae, but Mueller is unable to move his legs. He is able to breathe on his own.

Seibert and other doctors say it would be “not serious” to predict if and when Mueller could walk again.

Hospital director Gernot Brunner says it could take a year before doctors would have a better idea about the scope of the injury and Mueller’s prognosis.

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