Vonn, teammates don’t race, citing conditions
crans montana, switzerland» Vail’s Lindsey Vonn wasn’t about to risk another injury.
Vonn, along with some of her American teammates on the World Cup tour, pulled out of the alpine combined race Friday because of dangerous conditions on the course. The first three racers all crashed, and one was taken away on a stretcher with a knee injury.
“For me, I’ve had so many injuries, I don’t need to risk anything today,” Vonn said. “A lot of the other athletes and coaches were asking me to put pressure on everyone to try to cancel the race because it’s too dangerous and I did my best, but I just pray that no one else gets hurt today. It was a smart decision for our team to pull out of the race.”
After Ilka Stuhec, Tessa Worley and Denise Feierabend all fell at nearly the same point in the opening super-G portion of the combined race, the event was postponed and the start was lowered.
Stuhec and Worley were able to restart, but Feierabend could not because of her injury. Worley then crashed again on her second attempt.
Federica Brignone, who was second after the super-G portion, won the race, overtaking first-run leader Stuhec in the slalom. Michaela Kirchgasser was third.
“It was not easy for anyone,” Brignone said. “The snow was really soft, but I just told myself to start. If they say there’s a race, then I have to start and see myself. If it’s dangerous, I’m going to stop or go slower. It’s better to stay safe than do a race.”
At the team captains meeting after the race, World Cup director Atle Skaardal defended the decision not to cancel the combined.
He blamed the first three racers for choosing the wrong line.
“If they ski an ideal line and have big problems, the situation is of course different ... but that, in combination with high speed and underestimating a bump, were the three most important reasons why they had a bad start.”
Vonn said the race shouldn’t have gone ahead at all after several of the forerunners — including American teammate Julia Mancuso — crashed while testing the course as the snow began to melt.
“First and foremost, if all of the forerunners are crashing and not finishing, that’s a sign that something’s wrong,” Vonn said. “The forerunners are there for a reason. Julia was one of the forerunners, she told them, and they didn’t listen.
“No. 2: Listen to the representatives. Sofia (Goggia) told them that it was not acceptable to race but they didn’t listen and now Denise probably blew her knee out because no one listened.”
Vonn missed nearly two seasons of competition after injuring her right knee in Austria in 2013. She hurt the same knee in her comeback.
Vonn returned to competition last month after nearly a year out with knee and arm injuries.
“The problem is a lot of times people mistake our opinions as just whining,” Vonn said. “We’re women and we’re whining and we just need to suck it up and race, and that’s not the case. Probably more than half of the field has been injured before. It’s unfortunate that the FIS doesn’t listen to us.”
The U.S. ski federation announced that its team of Vonn, Mikaela Shiffrin, Laurenne Ross, Jaqueline Wiles, Breezy Johnson and Stacey Cook would not compete. But Wiles, Cook and Johnson did start, with only Johnson finishing the opening leg. She was 36th after the super-G.