Ski comeback queen and current leader in the FIS Alpine Skiing Downhill World Cup scene and second in Giant Slalom, Lindsey Vonn, has crashed in her final downhill before the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics on Friday and was left limping and applying attention to her left knee.
It’s a troublesome development in the 41-year-old’s spectacular skiing comeback. But ski racing great Vonn says her dream of competing at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics are ?not over yet despite having to be taken to hospital for checks after a crash at the World Cup downhill.
The 41-year-old, in winning form as she prepares for an age-defying Olympic comeback next week, ?lost her balance during the Crans-Montana race on ?Friday and crashed into the side netting, with her airbag inflating.
The event was later cancelled after three of the first six racers crashed.
Vonn eventually got up after receiving medical attention and walked away gingerly, taking weight off her left knee and using her poles to steady herself. She then clicked her skis back on but stopped to check her left knee.
The American eventually made it to the finish area and limped into a tent for medical attention. She was then airlifted away by helicopter.
Vonn has been the circuit’s leading downhiller this season with two victories and three other podium finishes, having returned last season after a partial right knee titanium replacement.
Including super-G, Vonn had completed eight World Cup races this season and finished on the podium in seven of them. Her worst finish was fourth.
The crash occurred exactly a week before the Milan Cortina opening ceremony.
Vonn’s first Olympic race is the women’s downhill on Feb. 8. She was also planning on competing in the super-G and the new team combined event at the Games.
Women’s skiing at the Olympics will be held in Cortina d’Ampezzo, where Vonn holds the record of 12 World Cup wins.
Vonn was the sixth racer to start and two other skiers had also crashed before her: Nina Ortlieb of Austria and Marte Monsen of Norway.
Ortlieb crashed on top in the same area as Vonn and Monsen hit the nets just before the finish area and had to be taken away in a sled. The race was delayed after both of those crashes.
Romane Miradoli of France, who did complete her run, said visibility was an issue, with snow falling.
“You can’t see,” Miradoli said, “and it’s bumpy everywhere.”
Asked if it was dangerous, Miradoli added, “We just couldn’t see well.”
“I crashed today in the downhill race in Switzerland and injured my left knee,” Vonn outlined on social media just ?days before the start of the Winter Olympics in Italy.
“I am discussing the situation with my doctors and team and will continue to undergo further exams. This is a very difficult outcome a week before the Olympics… but if there is one thing I know how to do, it’s a comeback.”
“She has some pain so it’s better to have some checks, the physio did some checks they seemed OK, but there were things he was not 100 percent sure about so it was good to have it checked at the hospital,” two-time Olympic champion Aksel Lund Svindal, Vonn’s coach, said.
Vonn was comforted at the finish by teammate Jacqueline Wiles.
The Olympics kick off on February 6 with the opening ceremony in Milan’s San Siro stadium.
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