Matthias Walkner, who suffered multiple leg injuries in a training accident in California at the beginning of December, underwent surgery for the sixth time on Friday. On the day the Dakar started, the 38-year-old from Salzburg had his last planned operation on his damaged left knee in Graz.
The operation once again took longer than expected, namely around five hours, Walkner’s sister and manager Eva Walkner told the APA. “It was a bit complicated again, but the doctors managed it well,” said Eva Walkner. Her brother had to spend one more night in the intensive care unit for observation, after which he would have to stay in the hospital for at least two more weeks.
The primary aim is to observe the blood supply to a large flap of skin that was transplanted from Walkner’s right thigh onto his large, open scar on his lower leg. “There is still no all-clear, but the doctors are totally positive,” explained Eva Walkner. In addition to several open fractures of the tibia and fibula, Austria’s motorcycle star also suffered a comminuted fracture in his ankle, which has also already been treated surgically.
