U.S. downhill skier Lindsey Vonn received some good news today. Her first race, which was supposed to be today, has been postponed until Thursday due to poor weather conditions. Vonn, 25, has been battling a badly bruised shin injury and welcomes the extra time to heal. According to Doug Haney of the U.S. Olympic Committee says Vonn is scheduled to take her first training run Sunday.
On Thursday, a dejected Vonn broke the news about her injured shin. She told reporters she hurt it a week earlier while training in Austria. She indicated that the pain was excruciating and could be enough to keep her from her quest for five gold medals. Friday, the news was slightly better as she tweeted that the pain had eased to the point where she thought she could grit her way through it.
That was music to the ears of Vonn’s eight sponsors who are ready to capitalize on her rising stardom. She was recently featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated in the Olympic preview issue and then a week later appeared in the swimsuit edition.
There has been some talk that the shin injury might cause Vonn to scale back on the number of races she skis keeping her from her drive for five. But USOC’s Haney says that has not been decided and as far as he knows she plans on racing all the events she qualified for. We should know a lot more about the reigning downhill world champion’s chances after her training run Sunday. The delay was all caused by the rain and fog blanketing Whistler, which forced the cancellation of all downhill runs today.