Injury rules out Lindsey Vonn for the rest of season
A knee injury incurred while competing in Schladming, Austria is likely to prevent Lindsey Vonn from competing in the rest of this years racing season. The US ski star had to be helicoptered off the piste during the first day of the World Championships in the Austrian ski resort of Schladming. She fell while competing in the Super G race and has injured her right knee.
She has reportedly damaged her ACL and MCL which means she will miss the rest of the season but should be fine to compete in the Sochi Olympics. The race start was delayed for 3 hours due to heavy fog and several competitors later described the conditions as very difficult.
Vonn, who has won the World Cup title four ties in total and is the defending Olympic champion in the downhill has had a poor season so far but will no doubt be very disappointed to miss the remaining races. The US ski team medical director, Kyle Wilkens, confirmed that Vonn would miss the rest of this season but should recover in time of the 2013-14 World Cup season and of course the 2014 Olympics.
The Super G race in Schladming was won by the Slovenian skier Tina Maze with Lara Gut (Switzerland), in second and Julia Mancuso (USA) in third.
The UK’s Chemmy Alcott came 24th on her return from injury and is hoping to improve on her performance over the remaining races this season.
Vonn was not the only competitor to crash out of the race with top skiers Anna Fenninger of Austria and Maria Hofl-Riesch (Germany) also failing to complete the course. Similarly Vonn, was not the only person to be air lifted off the course as a race attendant fell shortly before the race start and had to be helicoptered off the mountain.
