CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland (AP) — Lindsey Vonn crashed in her final descent before the Winter Olympics on Friday and was taken off the course for medical checks, a troubling turn for the 41-year-old American skier just a week before the Milan Cortina Games.
Vonn – the third skier to crash during the World Cup race in Crans-Montana – lost control while landing a jump and became entangled in the safety nets on the upper part of the course.
She got up after receiving medical attention for about 5 minutes, apparently in pain and using her sticks to balance herself. Vonn then skied slowly to the finish, stopping a few times along the way and holding her left knee.
The race, which was held in difficult conditions with poor visibility, was canceled after Vonn’s crash.
It was not immediately clear what impact the crash would have on Vonn’s Olympic preparations. The American, who was expected to be one of the Games’ biggest stars, stumbled into a tent for medical attention before being flown away by helicopter, dangling from a lifting rope as two people attended to her.
Before entering the tent, Vonn had an anxious expression on her face and her eyes were closed during a long embrace with teammate Jacqueline Wiles, who was leading the race when it was canceled.
“I know she hurt her knee, I spoke to her,” Urs Lehmann, CEO of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation, told reporters at the finish area. “I don’t know if it’s really tough and (if) she won’t miss the Olympics. Let’s wait to see what the doctors say.”
Vonn made a stunning comeback last season at the age of 40, after nearly six years away from ski racing. Skiing with a partial titanium implant with her right knee she was the circuit’s leading downhiller this season with two wins and three other podium finishes in the five races.
Including super-G, Vonn had competed in eight World Cup races this season and finished on the podium in seven of them. Her worst finish was fourth place.
The crash took place exactly a week before Milan Cortina’s opening ceremony.
Vonn’s first Olympic race will be the women’s downhill on Feb. 8. She also planned to compete in the super-G and the new team combined event at the Games.
The women’s skiing at the Olympic Games will be held in Cortina d’Ampezzo, where Vonn has the record of twelve World Cup victories.
Vonn also planned to race a super-G on Saturday at Crans-Montana in what would have been her final race before the Games.
Difficult racing conditions
Vonn was the sixth racer in Friday’s downhill and had posted the fastest time through the first checkpoint before taking an off-balance jump. She raised her left arm and pole high into the air in an attempt to regain her balance. While trying to brake, she was spun and ended up in the nets.
Two other skiers had also crashed before her: Nina Ortlieb from Austria and Marte Monsen from Norway.
Ortlieb crashed on top in the same area where Vonn and Monsen hit the nets just before the finish area and had to be taken away by sled. The race was postponed after both crashes. But then two racers – Wiles and Corinne Suter, the Olympic champion, completed their runs.
Wiles barely made the tight final left turn that had trapped Monsen.
Romane Miradoli of France, who completed her run second to start, said visibility was an issue as snow was falling.
“You can’t see it,” Miradoli said, “and it’s bumpy everywhere.”
Asked if it was dangerous, Miradoli added: “We just couldn’t see properly.”
Vonn has had numerous crashes in her career. One of her worst came at the 2013 world championships in Schladming, Austria, during a super-G that was also held in difficult conditions. Vonn then had to be flown off the course and her right knee tore apart. She returned the following season, was injured again and missed the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
Crans-Montana tribute
The race started in a somber mood on Friday in Crans-Montana, which is dealing with the trauma of a devastating bar fire in the early hours of New Year’s Day that killed 40 people and injured more than 100. A minute’s silence was observed before the race.
The finish area stripped of color and the usual sponsor advertisements. Instead, it was decorated with white and black banners with a ribbon with the words “Our thoughts are with you” written in French, German, Italian and English.
