Lindsey Vonn, 41, mentioned she was keen to danger all the pieces to turn into the oldest Alpine snowboarding medallist.
Not even rupturing the ACL in her left knee racing 9 days earlier than the occasion was going to cease the 41-year-old American.
“So long as there’s an opportunity,” she mentioned after arriving in Italy, “I’ll attempt.”
Hers was the most-anticipated occasion. It will have been even with out the drama of the damage in Switzerland.
Lindsey Vonn. Pic: Reuters
Even in case you are not the largest Winter Olympics fan, you in all probability know her title.
She got here out of retirement final 12 months on the age of 41, chasing the dream of a second Olympic gold so as to add to her 2010 downhill title.
May her physique cope? Not solely with the contemporary damage, however racing on a proper knee that was rebuilt from an damage in 2013.
There was shock and despair in Cortina when she crashed 13 seconds out of the starting gate.
Lindsey Vonn crashes 13 seconds into her run. Pic: AP
The autumn might have been softened by the obligatory security airbag that inflated after shedding management, however screams might be heard from Vonn after touchdown awkwardly at excessive pace.
And in a repeat of the scenes witnessed 9 days earlier in Crans-Montana, she was taken to hospital on a stretcher dangling from the underside of a helicopter.
Vonn is airlifted away after the crash. Pic: AP
Medics will now be assessing the long-term harm brought on following surgical procedure on her damaged left leg.
It might be a dramatic and horrific finish to the profession of one of the crucial profitable feminine skiers of all time.
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And questions will likely be requested whether or not the American crew ought to have allowed Vonn to compete and whether or not it was a danger too far.
