US star clocks successful practice run a week after injury
Olympic medal race is set for Sunday at Cortina
Lindsey Vonn moved a step closer to one of the most improbable Olympic starts in Alpine skiing history on Friday, producing an aggressive and largely clean downhill training run on the Olimpia delle Tofane course less than a week after fully rupturing the ACL in her left knee and being airlifted off a mountain in Switzerland.
The 41-year-old American clocked 1min 40.33sec in a fog-delayed session, but the time itself was secondary to what the run represented: proof that she can still attack a course at speed – and survive it – as she targets Sunday’s medal race.
Wearing bib No 10 and a brace on the injured knee, Vonn was forced to wait more than 90 minutes at the top of the mountain as low cloud and fog repeatedly halted the session. The delays came after Slovenia’s Ilka Stuhec crashed early, forcing course re-grooming, before fog again rolled in after the fourth starter, Austria’s Nina Ortlieb. Norway’s Marte Monsen, who also crashed in Crans-Montana last week, did not start.
