Vonn rides highs, lows

The Burnsville native, who won two gold medals at the world championships, will miss today’s giant slalom and might miss Saturday’s slalom after a freak injury.

Associated Press

Last update: February 12, 2009 - 12:08 AM

VAL D’ISERE, FRANCE – Near misses. High-speed crashes. Injuries. Bizarre accidents.

Drama seems to follow Lindsey Vonn at major championships.

The latest is tendon surgery to her right thumb, the result of cutting herself on a broken champagne bottle during a victory celebration. The injury could end a world championships that until now had been golden with titles in the super-G and downhill.

The U.S. team said Wednesday that Vonn is out of today’s giant slalom and has been downgraded to possible starter for Saturday’s slalom.

Vonn had surgery Tuesday in Innsbruck, Austria, after her mishap Monday night. She was seen leaving the clinic with a splint that held her thumb and extended to her forearm.

“I’m incredibly thankful for the care I’ve had over the last two days,” the Burnsville native said after returning to Val d’Isere.

Vonn’s husband, former U.S. ski racer Thomas Vonn, and Jeff Harrison, the U.S. team physician, were with her the entire time. Vonn is now trying to adapt to splints that will enable her to grip the pole without hurting her thumb.

“We’ll see how things go the next few days,” she said. “But I’m hoping to race slalom.”

At her first worlds in Bormio-Santa Caterina four years ago, Vonn was reduced to tears after just missing the podium with fourth-place finishes in the combined and downhill.

A year later at the Turin Olympics, Vonn crashed during training and was hospitalized before bouncing back to compete in all five of her events. Her best result was seventh in super-G.

Then at the last worlds in Are, Sweden, two years ago, Vonn injured a knee in training after winning two silver medals. She missed her final two events and the rest of the season.

Vonn might sit out the rest of these championships, too, to make sure she is in top form when the World Cup circuit resumes the following weekend in Tarvisio, Italy.

Vonn won the overall World Cup title last season and holds a 1,114-935 lead over Maria Riesch of Germany in this season’s standings. Swedish standout Anja Paerson is third with 855 points.

This latest injury happened when she couldn’t open the champagne bottle after the cork broke. Someone used a ski to extract the remaining piece of cork, breaking the bottle in the process. Vonn unknowingly grabbed the damaged bottle as the champagne flowed. Harrison immediately put in four stitches at the team hotel.

Miller considers retiring
American skier Bode Miller said in an interview with UniversalSports.com that he’s leaning toward retiring at the end of this season, but hasn’t completely ruled out the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Miller is the defending overall World Cup champion.

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