Hit the slopes?
Lindsey Vonn heads to Austria but is uncertain whether she’ll ski in the season opener,
As the world’s top ski racers were cramming in last-minute training on Austrian and Swiss glaciers preparing for the upcoming season, Lindsey Vonn was celebrating her 31st birthday at a Red Bull Air Show in Las Vegas.
But don’t let it fool you. Vonn is more determined than ever.
Vonn, who broke a bone in her left ankle during a training crash in New Zealand on Aug. 13, has again been left to intense rehabilitating in the gym. She will travel to the Austrian resort of Soelden on Tuesday and has been cleared to resume skiing Thursday, ahead of Saturday’s seasonopening giant slalom.
The four-time World Cup overall champion has yet to determine whether she will race, although it seems unlikely. Vonn said she probably will wait until Friday to reach a verdict.
“I haven’t made any definite plans on Soelden yet. I’m going to go there, get on snow and see how I feel,” Vonn said in a phone interview Monday.
“It definitely would be aggressive and asking a lot of me and my ankle, but it feels really good. ... I don’t want to 100% rule it out, but I’d say it’s more likely than not that I wouldn’t race.”
The skier from Vail, Colo., has missed the traditional opening race on the Rettenbach Glacier the last two seasons because of injuries. However, Vonn won the Soelden event in 2011.
If Vonn does not compete, her focus will shift to the second giant slalom race of the season, in Aspen, Colo., on Nov. 28. The 2010 Olympic downhill gold med- alist will begin a quest for her eighth World Cup downhill title in nine seasons the following weekend in Lake Louise, Alberta.
She will attend U.S. Ski Team training camps in Copper Mountain, Colo., and Vail in November, seeking to shave precious tenths off her racing with the help of veteran coach Chris Knight.
“We need two weeks on the speed skis at the start in Colorado to get information for her service guy so he is confident with what skis he is putting out as it comes closer to racing,” Knight said. “That’s the game plan for the first part of the camp in Colorado, and then it will be more of a GS block preparing for Aspen at the end.”
Vonn has 33 World Cup downhill wins, three shy of Austrian Annemarie Moser-Pröll’s record of 36.
Vonn thinks she can still be fast in giant slalom, but downhill and super- G preparation will again be a top priority.
In what was a superb comeback season from a surgically repaired right knee, Vonn surprised many, winning eight races and finishing third in the 2014-15 World Cup overall standings, 466 points behind champion Anna Fenninger of Austria.
Despite persistent injuries and setbacks, Vonn thinks she can still contend for the overall title, an honor she has not won since 2012.
The chase for the crystal globe appears to be wide open, considering former champion Tina Maze of Slovenia is out this season and Austrians Nicole Hosp and Kathrin Zettel have retired.
Vonn said she is in a good state mentally after some soul searching following her breakup with boyfriend Tiger Woods in May.
“I definitely had some tough times there in the spring and early summer, but ultimately I think it was a good chance to focus on myself and get in a better place physically and mentally and train really hard,” she said.
“I’m really motivated. I’m focused on just myself and my skiing, and I hope that makes a difference with my performance.”