VAL D’ISERE, France—Lindsey Vonn will miss Thursday’s giant slalom race at the World Championships while recovering from surgery on her right thumb.
The 24-year-old American had an operation Tuesday to repair a tendon damaged when she cut herself on a champagne bottle while celebrating her victory in Monday’s downhill. It was her second gold medal after winning the super-G last week.
“There’s nothing we can do about it. We’ve just got to move on,” U.S. women’s head coach Jim Tracy said Wednesday. “It’s one race. It happens. Now she’ll get ready for the slalom on Saturday.”
Vonn, of Vail, Colo., was due to return to Val d’Isere later Wednesday from a clinic near Innsbruck, Austria, where she underwent the surgery.
She is expected to compete in the slalom on Saturday wearing a splint to protect her thumb.
Vonn couldn’t open the champagne bottle after the cork broke. Someone used a ski to extract the remaining piece of cork, breaking the bottle in the process. Vonn didn’t realize what happened and grabbed the damaged bottle as the champagne flowed.
“I don’t know exactly what happened. None of us were there. It was a Rossignol party,” Tracy said, referring to Vonn’s ski manufacturer. “It is a little disappointing maybe that they didn’t have anyone to take care of that.”
Giant slalom has traditionally been Vonn’s weakest event. She is currently 10th in the World Cup discipline standings though she leads the overall standings.
Vonn’s best career finish in GS was fourth in a World Cup race in Aspen, Colorado, last November.
The American challenge in Thursday’s race will be led by 2006 Olympic giant slalom champion Julia Mancuso.
