Koretzky Needs Second Surgery After Failed Arm Healing
The French cyclist missed the 2026 World Cup season after his humerus did not heal, and he now hopes to return in 2027.
Updated on Nov. 5, 2026 in Cycling
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French mountain biker Victor Koretzky underwent a second surgery to address a humeral nonunion, a failure of his arm to heal after a break in April 2026. The procedure removed the original hardware and rebuilt the bone, and it leaves the three-time Olympian sidelined for the 2026 World Cup season.
Why it matters
A nonunion means the broken bone never fully knitted back together, so the original fixation alone was not enough to restore the arm. For athletes and anyone recovering from a fracture, it is a reminder that a bone that seems to heal can still need a further operation when it does not.
This is a first-person account from the athlete and his surgical team rather than a controlled study, and it describes a single case. The reported details are the failure of the humerus to heal after April 2026 hardware fixation and a second operation that removed that hardware and grafted bone from the iliac crest.
The players
Victor Koretzky
French mountain biker and three-time Olympian who won silver at the Paris Olympics and finished second at the 2025 XCO World Championships.
The details
The surgeon removed the hardware installed after the April break, then took a bone graft from Koretzky's iliac crest, the hip bone, and placed it along with a new plate directly on the humerus. Bone grafts provide material that encourages new bone to grow across a gap or weak spot, and a plate stabilizes the fragments while that happens. Koretzky said the arm was still not strong enough to race the XCO event just two days after his only 2026 start.
Timeline
April 2026: Koretzky broke his humerus and hardware was installed.
June 2026: Koretzky said he was back on the bike.
July 2026: Koretzky hoped to return for World Cups.
2026 Val di Sole XCC World Championships: his only race of the year, where he finished 34th.
2027: Koretzky hopes to return to winning form.
Health Landscape
Long-bone fractures that fail to heal, known as nonunions, are a recognized complication in orthopedics and typically require a second operation with grafting. Elite endurance athletes often face these setbacks with an Olympic cycle as the longer-term goal.
If you have had a fracture that is slow to heal or still causes pain or weakness months later, it is worth raising with your doctor, who can check whether the bone has fully united. Recovery timelines vary widely, and a common four-to-six-week figure does not apply to every break.
The takeaway
A fracture that does not heal on schedule can require a second operation, and a bone that seems stable may still need follow-up imaging. If a broken bone is not progressing as expected, ask your physician about checking for a nonunion.
Further reading
For more on the sport, browse our Cycling coverage.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Pinkbike.
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