Vonn is still steamed over course conditions
Lindsey Vonn’s right knee is healing quicker than her feelings over a world championship race she says should have been called off.
The four-time overall World Cup champion remains unhappy about how she sustained a season-ending injury — two shredded ligaments and a broken bone — at the world championships in Schladming, Austria. She believes organizers should have postponed the super-G race Feb. 5 because of deteriorating course conditions.
In a conference call Friday, Vonn said she “did not think it was safe” to race on the soft snow and that “athletes safety should come first.”
“I do not think the jury made the right call,” said Vonn, who underwent surgery to repair the ACL and MCL nearly two weeks ago. “It was definitely not safe to run with that fog.”
The start of the super-G was delayed by 3 1/2 hours because of fog hanging over the course. During that time, conditions dramatically changed, said Vonn, who noted that she inspected the hill early in the morning.
Soon after her crash, Atle Skaardal, women’s race director for the International Ski Federation, defended the decision to go ahead with the event, saying, “I don’t see that any outside factors played a role in this accident.”
Vonn disagreed. She hit a jump along the course faster than anyone else and flew a lot farther, landing in a patch of snow that was much softer. Her right ski abruptly stopped and then buckled.
“I feel like that loose snow was 100 per cent the reason why I crashed,” she said.
As she lay in the snow, in pain and waiting for a helicopter to lift her off the mountain, Vonn called U.S. women’s head coach Alex Hoedlmoser and told him to inform race officials to stop the competition.
“They apparently didn’t do that,” Vonn said. “I was definitely disappointed they decided to run the race.”
Organizers eventually did stop the event, though not immediately after Vonn’s crash. With conditions varying from racer to racer and the light fading, the race was halted after only 36 of the 59 skiers had come down the hill.
Vonn is on pace to return in time for the 2014 Sochi Games and defend the downhill title she won in Vancouver. She even joked this injury makes her “the underdog now.”
“That will help ease the pressure a little bit,” Vonn said.
Comebacks are hardly anything new for Vonn, who has been plagued by injuries at her last six major championships.
They ranged from a thumb she sliced on a champagne bottle at the 2009 worlds in Val d’Isere, France to a bruised shin that she treated with the unorthodox remedy of Austrian cheese at the Vancouver Olympics.
She’s attacking rehab with the same vigour as if it were a course, going as fast as she’s allowed. She’s attending physical therapy sessions for her knee twice a day, seven days a week.
Most of the work involves simple tasks, like moving her knee cap around to gain back motion. She’s also working on her upper body strength, vowing to come back stronger than ever.