San Sicario, Italy – It was the kind of crash that shakes downhill racers to their cores and forces them to face their vulnerability, something they try to keep in denial so they can throw themselves down icy mountains at 80 mph.
You could see it in their faces. They were seriously spooked.
When Ski Club Vail’s Lindsey Kildow crashed hideously during a downhill training run Monday, racers in the finish area and a handful of onlookers were convinced she was seriously hurt. Later they would learn she was a very lucky woman: She was not paralyzed, she did not injure her knees, she broke no bones, suffered no internal injuries, no skull fracture. Any of those outcomes seemed possible in the grim aftermath of the crash.
Austrian World Cup star Renate Goetschl covered her face in her hands and turned away while watching a replay. Former U.S. Ski Team racer Carrie Sheinberg warned one of Kildow’s teammates, Kirsten Clark, not to watch. Sheinberg would say the crash reminded her of Joe Theismann’s broken leg on “Monday Night Football.”
Kildow, 21, caught an edge negotiating a roll on the course and landed with her legs splayed at an estimated 50 mph. She then went airborne and slammed into the mountain on her back. She was conscious after the crash, but her chest was heaving and her face was twisted in pain.
“It looked really bad,” a somber Goetschl said. “I hope for her the best, but it doesn’t look so good.”
Kildow’s boyfriend, former U.S. Ski Team racer Thomas Vonn, was watching on television at a nearby hotel.
“I thought for sure she blew out both knees,” Vonn said. “It’s amazing she didn’t blow out both knees.”
Kildow was flown by helicopter to a trauma hospital in Turin. Dr. Bill Sterett of the Vail Valley Medical Center, who works with the U.S. Ski Team, said Kildow suffered severe pelvic contusions but her CT scan and X-rays were normal. Sterett wouldn’t speculate how soon she would return to racing but said she still hopes to race in Wednesday’s downhill.
“She’s not given up her spot (in the race) at this point,” Sterett said. “We’re going to have to see how she does (today).”
Kildow’s father, Alan, said he was comforted to know Sterett was taking care of his daughter. Sterett has known her since she was 13 years old.
“I was very relieved she didn’t have a concussion, her back seems to be OK, and she didn’t tear any ligaments or tendons in her knees,” Alan Kildow said from his office in Minneapolis.
It was hardly a surprise Kildow wanted to race so soon after her crash. Just last month she spoke with excitement about the “adrenaline rush” she gets from downhill racing despite the obvious risks.
“When you’re going fast and you make a sweet turn, it’s really hard to find anything better, in my mind at least,” Kildow said. “When you’re going downhill 80 mph, it’s a really cool feeling. You don’t get that doing anything else.”
But Kildow has never been seriously injured racing downhill. Rare among skiers, she has never blown out a knee. Everyone who saw Monday’s crash found it miraculous her knees emerged intact.
“When she started losing control, she came down on her ski, I saw her ski bend and take off, (there was) just a wicked snap in her knee,” said former Canadian downhiller Todd Brooker, an NBC color commentator. “I thought it was conclusive: Her knee is gone. She’s laying there in pain, her legs are wide open, I thought, ‘There’s no doubt one of her knees is wrecked.”‘
Three other skiers crashed, including defending Olympic champion Carole Montillet of France, who was not seriously injured. Canadian Allison Forsyth suffered a torn knee ligament and is out for the Games.
Brooker was one of the risk-taking “Crazy Canucks” on the Canadian downhill team in the 1980s, and his career ended after he lost control at 80 mph and cartwheeled in sight of the finish line at Kitzbuehel, Austria. Many spectators, including his wife, thought he had been killed.
Brooker blamed slope preparation for racers catching edges and crashing Monday.
“When I raced, they used to water down the course,” Brooker said. “It was like a hockey rink. The snow here is so dry and sticky, you can get your edge in deep. You have a problem with too much edging. When you make a mistake, instead of sliding (on ice) and not turning, you do too much edge and overturn. This is compounded when you get the man-made rollers they’re putting in. Whenever you get a compression, the compression bends the ski, and if you have it on edge it’s going to want to turn.”
American Julia Mancuso was in the starting gate when Kildow crashed. After a lengthy hold in the start, Mancuso finished fourth.
“I’m trained to block it out,” Mancuso said. “A lot of the time they keep us in the dark at the top. You can’t really think of it. You just go out of the start and ski.”
Staff writer John Meyer can be reached at 303-820-1616 or jmeyer@denverpost.com.
