SCHLADMING, Austria -- Hannes Reichelt has been ruled out of the Olympics because of a back injury, leaving the Austrian Alpine speed team without its main medal hope in Sochi. The Austrian ski federation said Monday that Reichelt had to undergo surgery in a sanatorium in Innsbruck for a herniated disk, only two days after winning a World Cup downhill in Kitzbuehel, and therefore has to end his season prematurely. "I am glad I had my back checked today because the consequences (of skiing on) could have been bad for me," said Reichelt, who became the first Austrian in eight years to win the classic Kitzbuehel race. "The X-ray speaks for itself and surgery is unavoidable," Reichelt said. "Health comes in first place and I want to keep doing sports after my career. Unfortunately my Olympic dream is in shatters." Reichelt had been complaining about persistent back problems for weeks. They almost prevented him from starting in Saturdays race but he took medicines to ease the pain. Austria mens head coach Mathias Berthold called Reichelts absence in Sochi "a massive blow to all of us." The Austrian mens ski team failed to win any medal at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010. For the technical races in Sochi, overall World Cup champion Marcel Hirscher is a strong favourite, but Austrias hopes for the downhill and the super-G were mainly with Reichelt. He is the only Austrian skier to win a downhill in the past two seasons. "I feel extremely sorry for Hannes. He misses out on the most important race of the season," said Berthold, who was expected to announce a replacement later Monday. "We knew before the downhill in Kitzbuehel that Hannes wasnt doing well," the coach said. "That he still won the race is almost incredible." Berthold said it wasnt an option for Reichelt to rely on painkillers to take part in the Olympic downhill on Feb. 9, the first Alpine event of the Games. "His condition is that bad, it would have been medically irresponsible to ski even once more," Berthold said. Besides his triumph in Kitzbuehel, Reichelt had four more podiums in World Cup speed events this season. He has seven career wins. His only Olympic race was the super-G in Turin in 2006, where he finished 10th. The federations sport director, Hans Pum, said Reichelt "was in the form of his life." "This is obviously really bitter," Pum said. "But health is the most important. We wish him all the best and a speedy recovery and hope he returns soon." Nike Air Max 90 Homme . Kulemin is out with a bone chip in his ankle suffered when he blocked a shot in practice Friday. "Its just a small bone broken in the ankle," coach Randy Carlyle said. Nike Air Max 90 Homme Pas Cher .Y. -- The Buffalo Sabres have signed two free-agent forwards, Mark Mancari and Kevin Porter, and re-signed minor league goalie David Leggio each to one-year contracts. http://www.airmax... . -- The Arizona Diamondbacks have released catcher Rod Barajas, a move that makes Wil Nieves the backup to starter Miguel Montero. [url=http://www.airmax90femmefr.com/]Nike Air Max 90 Pas Cher . Tsonga fired 11 aces and didnt drop a service game in the match to improve his record to four wins in five tour-level matches against his French compatriot. After Tsonga got the decisive break of the first set in the second game, the second set went with serve until the tiebreaker. Nike Air Max 90 Femme . The all-star guard has posted a picture of Fridays agreement with Besiktas bearing his signature on his Twitter account. Williams says on Twitter: "just made it official, headed to Turkey.CHELYABINSK, Russia -- Christine Nesbitt won Canadas first long track speedskating medal of the season Saturday with a World Cup silver in the womens 1,500 metres. The London, Ont., native finished in a time of one minute 57.44 seconds, just 0.42 seconds behind Ireen Wust of the Netherlands. Marrit Leenstra, also of the Netherlands, was 1.25 seconds back of Nesbitt in third. Edmontons Nicole Garrido finished 20th (2:02.15), while the Winnipeg trio of Cindy Klassen (1:59.32), Brittany Schussler (2:00.36) and Shannon Rempel (2:03.07) were 10th, 15th and 23rd, respectively. Edmontons Jamie Gregg finished sixth in the mens 500 metres with a time of 35.dddddddddddd33 seconds, 0.31 seconds back of winner Joji Kato of Japan. Calgarys Gilmore Junio was ninth (35.33), while Winnipegs Tyler Derraugh was 20th (35.79). In the womens 500 metres, Chinas Jing Yu won in a time of 37.65 seconds. Nesbitt finished 15th (38.86) and Anastasia Bucsis of Calgary was 18th (38.97). Meanwhile, Reginas Lucas Makowsky finished 22nd (6:47.68) in the mens 5,000 metres. Jordan Belchos of Toronto took the bronze medal in division B in a time of 6:31.26. The Netherlands swept the podium with Jorritt Bergsma (6:18.74) taking the gold. cheap jerseys cheap jerseys ' ' '