The reigning Olympic champion Lindsey Vonn got injured Tuesday in a training run in Copper Mountain, Colorado ahead of her anticipated return to racing in the World Cup competition next week in Beaver Creek, Colo. Vonn was just recovering from a major right knee surgery. Vonn was however, not admitted to the hospital. Instead, her injury is being evaluated by her doctor, Bill Sterett.
“We have no reason to believe it’s anything significant right now,” read a statement from U.S. Ski Team spokesman Tom Kelly to the Associated Press. It is not clear whether her right knee was injured or not. She had torn her ligaments in the knee and fractured her tibia in a sickening crash in a high speed accident which occurred on Feb. 5. “We expect to have clarity on the situation in the next 24 hours,” Lewis Kay, a spokesman for Vonn, said.
Vonn had actually felt that her knee was months ahead of the schedule and in recent weeks she repeatedly said that her right knee was fully recovered. She thought about expediting her comeback to the season opening Giant Slalom in Soelden, Austria last month but she changed her mind. Opting instead to continue preparing. She had already indicated that the Sochi Olympics this coming February are her priority.
It is unlikely that Vonn will have adequate time to prepare for the Sochi Olympics in 79 days following the setback. She had said before the season that her main focus was on the Olympics. “If I start off slow, it’s fine I just want to make sure that by the time I get to Sochi that I’m 100% in those events.” Vonn felt that she would have less pressure at the Sochi Olympics since she already has a gold medal. . “My childhood dream was to win the Olympics, and I’ve done that. Everything else is icing on the cake,” she said. “I feel like the pressure is off,”
(image via Wikipedia)