Reigning champion Lysacek ends Olympic comeback attempt

Evan Lysacek has given up the attempt to defend his Olympic figure skating title.

As first reported late Monday night on the Twitter feed of Tribune Olympic writer Philip Hersh, @olyphil, Lysacek announced Tuesday he was not going to compete.

Lysacek, 28, made the formal announcement on the Today show.

The Naperville native and Neuqua Valley High School graduate has battled injuries since winning the Olympic gold medal in 2010. That was his last competition.

Lyssacek was the first U.S. man to win the Olympic title since Brian Boitano in 1988. He also won a world title – first by a U.S. man since 1996 - two world bronze medals and two U.S. titles, making him the most impressively decorated U.S. man since Boitano.

He took the year off after the Olympics, finishing second on Dancing With the Stars. A contractual dispute with U.S. figure skating kept Lysacek out of the 2011-12 season. Attempting a comeback for 2012-13, he hurt his groin and later needed major hernia surgery.

An abdominal tear and turn labrum in his left hip forced Lysacek to withdraw from planned competitions in September and October. To get the minimum technical scores for 2014 Olympic eligibility, he needed to compete in an international competition before January’s U.S. Championships. The entry deadline for the final such competition, the Ukraine Open, is Tuesday.

“Words cannot describe how disappointed I am to not be able to compete in Sochi,” Lysacek said in a statement from U.S. Figure Skating. “While none of my past injuries have sidelined me quite like this one, I remain determined to regain my health and skate again.”

Lysacek told Today that continuing to push training with a torn labrum would risk permanent damage.

“A lot of what played into that decision (to not attempt to qualify) was that my doctor warned me that if I continued to train with 100 percent certainty the (labrum) injury would get worse, the pain would get worse every single day and I could be doing permanent and severe damage,’’ he said.