Kwan Has Stress Fracture

The reason for Michelle Kwan’s atypically poor performance at Skate Canada has become apparent after it was disclosed she has a slight stress fracture of a toe.

Olympic favorite Kwan, the 1996 world and U.S. figure skating champion, will be sidelined from 10 days to two weeks with a minor stress fracture of the second toe of her left foot. She was injured during summer training and aggravated the injury at Skate Canada, where she had several mistakes in her free skate.

A small cast was placed on the foot to keep it immobile. Kwan withdrew from her next scheduled event, the NHK Trophy at the end of November in Nagano, Japan, - site of the 1998 Winter Olympics. The 17-year-old skater is expected to be fine for the national championships in Philadelphia on Jan. 4-11.