Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Lindsey Vonn suffers from severe knee injury after crash on Austria

Gold medalist skier Lindsey Vonn

crashed during the FIS Alpine Ski

World Championship Super-G race in

Schladming, Austria, Tuesday and

suffered a season-ending injury to

her right knee.



The World Cup champion from Vail,

Colo., lost balance on her right leg

after coming around a turn and

trying to stick a landing after a jump.



Her right ski came off immediately,

and Vonn slid down the race course

for several feet on her back before

hitting a gate and coming to a stop.



According to U.S. Ski Team Medical

Director Kyle Wilkens, the 28-year-

old competitive skier tore the

anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and

the medial collateral ligament (MCL)

of her right knee and suffered a

lateral tibial plateau fracture.



"She will be out for the remainder of

this season but is expected to return

to racing for the 2013-14 Audi FIS

World Cup season and the 2014

Olympic Winter Games in Sochi,

Russia," the U.S. team said in a

statement.



Vonn had posted the fastest first

interval and was having a strong run

when she went down. She was

immediately attended to by race

medical officials and then taken to

the hospital by helicopter, as is

standard protocol, the U.S. team said.



Vonn is a highly decorated skiing

star. With 59 World Cup victories

under her belt, she is one of only five

women to have won World Cup races

in all five disciplines of Alpine skiing

— downhill, super G, giant slalom,

slalom and super combined.



Expected to make a huge showing at

the upcoming 2014 Winter Olympics,

Vonn previously took home a gold

medal for downhill skiing and the

bronze for the Super-G race at the

2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.



Vonn started racing again in January

after missing a few weeks of the

season to recover from an intestinal

illness, according to the Associated

Press.

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