Lindsey Vonn suffers setback with injured knee, skiing off course

Lindsey Vonn, with boyfriend Tiger Woods watching from the finish area, could not complete a downhill run Saturday when her surgically repaired right knee “gave out” as she struggled to maintain her balance.

The 2010 Olympic downhill champion, who tore two ligaments in the knee earlier this year, said she doesn’t think she sustained any more damage during the World Cup event at Val d’Isere, France, but said she will have to be careful as she continues to prepare for the 2014 Sochi Games in February.

“I didn’t hurt myself more than I’m already hurt,” said Vonn, 29, who partially tore a repaired ligament earlier this fall while training. “It was a small compression, and it was fully loaded on the right ski and my knee just completely gave out. I tried to pressure the ski again and it gave out again. I had no chance of making that gate, unfortunately.

“I’m going to stick to a similar plan that I was on before,” she said. “I just need to be more careful of how many races I do.”

Marianne Kaufmann-Abderhalden of Switzerland won the competition, with reigning World Cup champion Tina Maze of Slovenia taking second and Cornelia Huetter of Austria finishing third.
Vonn, a four-time world champion in the downhill, reiterated that she must closely guard against trying to do too much in preparation for Sochi.

“I’m at risk of doing more damage to my knee and my meniscus, so I’m going to play it safe and race really minimal races,” said Vonn, adding that she’ll likely return to racing in January. “Probably one or two before the Olympics.”

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