Evgeny Plushenko is unlikely to recover from a planned knee operation in time for the World Figure Skating Championships in March, the veteran skater said early Tuesday.
The 2006 Olympic champion made the prediction after hobbling to victory in the preliminary qualifying skate at the European championships in Sheffield, England.
The Russian admitted to feeling pain in his left knee every time he landed in Monday's performance, which featured his trademark quadruple toe loop. The final is Wednesday.
"My chances of going to the world championships are 50-50," Plushenko said. "But it's really hard to skate when you don't feel healthy." Plushenko said he'll undergo surgery on the knee "as soon as possible" after Sheffield, leaving precious little time to recuperate for the March 26 event in Nice, France.
"The recover period after an operation is a month - but that's just on paper. In reality it takes two or three months."
The competition, his first international event since winning the silver at the Vancouver Games in 2010, is part of a comeback trail that he hopes will culminate in gold at his home Games in Sochi in 2014.
But Plushenko's age of 29 - advanced for a top-class figure skater - could be counting against him. As well as the knee problem he admitted to pulling a back muscle in training on Sunday, throwing his participation in Sheffield into doubt until the last minute.
The news may disappoint skating fans hoping to see Plushenko face off at the world championships against reigning world champion Patrick Chan of Canada. Chan himself said earlier this month that he had been "excited" to meet Plushenko, his one-time idol, on the ice once again.
After months off the ice due to a knee injury and a disqualification for taking part in non-amateur shows, Plushenko appeared in his first competition in December, winning the Russian national championships with a rough-around-the-edges skate.
He has been given special dispensation to skate in Sheffield after failing to accrue enough points on this season's circuit to qualify.
