Lindsey Vonn is getting even more time to let her badly bruised right shin heal. Friday’s second women’s Olympic downhill training run has been canceled, again pushing back Vonn’s first chance to truly test her injured leg.
The American had decided Thursday to participate in the first downhill training session, but that was called off after only two racers.
She had been considered a medal contender in all five Alpine events, including an overwhelming favorite in the downhill. But that was before she revealed Wednesday that she was hurt last week in pre-Olympic practice.
Lindsey Vonn addresses the media about her right leg injury following the women's alpine skiing team press conference.
After fretting about the injury, after using painkillers and a Novocaine-like numbing cream to dull the aching, after getting back on her skis and back on a mountain, Vonn keeps awaiting a chance to take a full-fledged training run down the Olympic downhill course.
Friday was to be the day before weather forced two delays, then scrapped the women’s session. The final men’s downhill training run Friday already had been canceled because of overnight rain. What had been planned as the women’s third and final training run remains set for Saturday ahead of Sunday’s first race, the super-combined.
Vonn actually did ski down a hill Thursday for the first time since getting hurt on Feb. 2, albeit only in a free run and not on the official course. That convinced her she was ready to take part in the opening women’s training session later Thursday, but that practice was called off after only two racers because of thick fog and low visibility.
“I was happy to be back on snow today,” Vonn said. “My shin was still very painful, but I feel like the injury is finally progressing a bit. I am always disappointed when a training run is canceled, but in this situation I definitely welcome the extra day to heal.”
U.S. Ski Team women’s coach Jim Tracy was optimistic. He knows full well her history of brushing aside injuries and pain—whether it was making the quick transition from hospital bed to starting gate after a horrific crash in downhill training at the 2006 Turin Olympics, or managing not to miss a single race after badly bruising her arm in December.
“We’re hoping that she’s going to go full-bore,” Tracy said. “We’re not talking about skipping any events. We’re on a normal program.”
And the ultimate decisions about how much to train and compete will be made by Vonn, not the team.
“I’m not going to tell her she can’t race. And I’m not going to tell her she has to race,” Tracy said. “It’s her health.”
Before her injury became known Wednesday, Vonn was widely considered to be a contender for perhaps three or four medals—and an overwhelming favorite to win golds in the downhill and super-G.
The outlook for Vonn evolved quite a bit in the 24 hours since the two-time World Cup overall champion raised the possibility of not being able to compete at all.
Vonn has been trying all manner of measures to speed the healing process since she banged her boot against her right leg in a headfirst tumble last week during training in Austria. She tried things as basic as stretching. She tried laser therapy. She even tried wrapping her leg with the Austrian curd cheese topfen to bring down the swelling.
On Thursday, she raised the bar, writing on her Twitter feed in the morning that she “took a bunch” of painkillers and “numbed my shin with some creams.”
Later in the day, Vonn posted on Facebook: “The pain level has gone down from a sharp debilitating pain to something that I feel I may be able to grit my teeth through.”
But as positive as Thursday’s test run on skis was, it’s not nearly as good an indication as an honest-to-goodness training run down the real course would be.
