Olympic Gold Medalist skier Lindsey Vonn was airlifted off of a mountain, Tuesday, after suffering an injury during Alpine World Championships in Schladming, Austria. Vonn was trailing behind winner Tina Maze by 0.12 when she suddenly slid off course during the women's Super G and hit a gate before coming to a stop.
According to the Huffington Post, she seemed to have lost balance trying to land after a jump. It's also reported that visibility was difficult for the racers on the course due to the fog and the race was delayed for 3 and ½ hours due to the conditions. Vonn was taken to the hospital for what is appeared to be an injury to her right knee after receiving a few minutes of treatment. The race resumed after Vonn was helped from the course, and Maze took the race, though some other skiers had difficulty with their runs. Germany's Maria Hoefl-Riesch, winner of two golds at the Vancouver Olympics and Austria's Anna Fenninger who also won gold at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships both also fell out of the race.
Vonn is from St. Paul, Minnesota and a World Cup Alpine ski racer with the United States Ski Team. She is undoubtedly the most successful American skier in history, and one of only two women female skiers to win four World Cup championships. She won for three consecutive years in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and last year in 2012. Vonn took the gold in the 2010 Winter Olympics in downhill alpine skiing, setting the record as being the first American woman to earn such an achievement in that event.
Over the course of her career, Vonn won 59 World Cup races in all five disciplines of alpine skiing which consist of downhill, super G, giant slalom, slalom, and super-combined. Some of her many other accolades includes winning five consecutive World Cup season titles in downhill, four super G race consecutive titles, and an additional three consecutives in the combined discipline.
In an update, the president of Austria's ski federation, Peter Schroecksnadel said he was advised by doctors that Vonn tore her cruciate and lateral ligaments. "That's the only injury she has, nothing besides this," Schroecksnadel said. The U.S. team has not given an immediate update on Vonn's condition, but will release an official statement.
