Vonn crashes while training at Soelden ahead of World Cup opener

U.S. Ski Team to release official start list Thursday

Vail’s Lindsey Vonn is not only back on skis and training on snow ahead of this weekend’s World Cup opener in Soelden, Austria, but the defending Olympic downhill champion is also back to crashing.

Vonn on Monday posted a homemade GoPro video of her first crash since blowing out her right knee in a super-G at the World Championships in Austria last February.

“My skiing is improving every day, but I still crash once in a while,” Vonn wrote on Facebook. “Here’s a GoPro video I made of my first crash since I blew out my knee … and don’t worry, I got back up and kept training.”

Earlier this month, Vonn made headlines by speculating she could return from her injury in time for Soelden. She trained on snow in Portillo, Chile, in September, and told reporters she might be back into race shape for the opener. If not Soelden, she said she would definitely be back for the women’s downhill Nov. 29 on Beaver Creek’s new “Talon’s” course.

However, she added she’ll likely skip slalom events, as they would put too much strain on her surgically repaired knee. Between Soelden’s opening giant slalom on Saturday and the downhill Nov. 29 in Beaver Creek, there’s a women’s slalom scheduled for Levi, Finland on Nov. 16.

A spokesman for the U.S. Ski Team said Tuesday that a final start list for the Soelden opener, which includes a men’s GS on Sunday, likely won’t be released until Thursday.

Vonn, 29, needs just three World Cup wins to tie retired Austrian legend Annemarie Moser-Proell for the most women’s victories (62) in World Cup history. Beaver Creek, which is testing its new course ahead of next season’s 2015 World Championships, will host three women’s events, including a super-G on Nov. 30 and a GS on Dec. 1.

In 2011, Vonn won a makeup super-G at Beaver Creek on the men’s Birds of Prey course. Depending on whether she races (and wins) at Soelden – where she won a GS in 2011 – Vonn could tie or even break Moser-Proell’s record on home snow Nov. 29-Dec. 1 at Beaver Creek.

Lindsey Vonn has been training on snow in Soelden, where she crashed recently (Red Bull file photo).

If not, she’s a virtual lock to surpass the all-time mark at Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada, the following weekend, where two downhills and a super-G are scheduled for Dec. 6-8. An astounding 14 of Vonn’s American record 59 World Cup wins have come at Lake Louise, and she won all three races there last year en route to six total wins before her injury.

The Vail surgeon who repaired her ruptured ACL and MCL, Dr. William Sterett of Vail-Summit Orthopedics, said he isn’t surprised by the speed of Vonn’s comeback.

“I think that’s been a big key to her success is how hard-working she is,” Sterett said. “She’s very, very disciplined and very regimented in all aspects, and I think that’s been a big key to her success is how driven she is and how hard-working she is.”

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David O. Williams

Managing Editor at RealVail

David O. Williams is the editor and co-founder of RealVail.com and has had his awarding-winning work (see About Us) published in more than 75 newspapers and magazines around the world, including 5280 Magazine, American Way Magazine (American Airlines), the Anchorage Daily News (Alaska), the Anchorage Daily Press (Alaska), Aspen Daily News, Aspen Journalism, the Aspen Times, Beaver Creek Magazine, the Boulder Daily Camera, the Casper Star Tribune (Wyoming), the Chicago Tribune, Colorado Central Magazine, the Colorado Independent (formerly Colorado Confidential), Colorado Newsline, Colorado Politics (formerly the Colorado Statesman), Colorado Public News, the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Colorado Springs Independent, the Colorado Statesman (now Colorado Politics), the Colorado Times Recorder, the Cortez Journal, the Craig Daily Press, the Curry Coastal Pilot (Oregon), the Daily Trail (Vail), the Del Norte Triplicate (California), the Denver Daily News, the Denver Gazette, the Denver Post, the Durango Herald, the Eagle Valley Enterprise, the Eastside Journal (Bellevue, Washington), ESPN.com, Explore Big Sky (Mont.), the Fort Morgan Times (Colorado), the Glenwood Springs Post-Independent, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, the Greeley Tribune, the Huffington Post, the King County Journal (Seattle, Washington), the Kingman Daily Miner (Arizona), KUNC.org (northern Colorado), LA Weekly, the Las Vegas Sun, the Leadville Herald-Democrat, the London Daily Mirror, the Moab Times Independent (Utah), the Montgomery Journal (Maryland), the Montrose Daily Press, The New York Times, the Parent’s Handbook, Peaks Magazine (now Epic Life), People Magazine, Powder Magazine, the Pueblo Chieftain, PT Magazine, the Rio Blanco Herald Times (Colorado), Rocky Mountain Golf Magazine, the Rocky Mountain News, RouteFifty.com (formerly Government Executive State and Local), the Salt Lake Tribune, SKI Magazine, Ski Area Management, SKIING Magazine, the Sky-Hi News, the Steamboat Pilot & Today, the Sterling Journal Advocate (Colorado), the Summit Daily News, United Hemispheres (United Airlines), Vail/Beaver Creek Magazine, Vail en Español, Vail Health Magazine, Vail Valley Magazine, the Vail Daily, the Vail Trail, Westword (Denver), Writers on the Range and the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. Williams is also the founder, publisher and editor of RealVail.com and RockyMountainPost.com.

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