LIENZ, Austria — Overall champion Lindsey Vonn injured her left arm in a crash Monday in the opening run of the World Cup giant slalom, and Kathrin Hoelzl of Germany won the race.
Vonn initially thought she had broken her arm after losing her balance and falling backward. An X-ray and MRI exam revealed no break, only a bone bruise.
“It’s not a classic broken wrist, but a swelling,” said doctor Eduard Sporer of the Lienz district hospital, who added Vonn might be able to race in today’s slalom.
Vonn’s husband, Thomas, said she will test her wrist today to see whether she can compete.
“She has a lot of pain in her arm up by her wrist, but she should be OK,” Thomas Vonn said. “Basically what it means is she can ski as soon as she can handle the pain.”
Vonn skipped the mandatory public bib draw Monday evening and was represented by teammate Kaylin Richardson.
Vonn lost her balance on a bump after a sharp left turn, hitting a gate and losing a ski. After staying down for almost 10 minutes and receiving first aid, she put her skis on and went down the hill with her arm in a sling.
U.S. technical coach Trevor Wagner said Vonn was still considering racing today.
“I’m going to talk to her, but it’s up to her,” Wagner said.
U.S. speed coach Alex Hoedlmoser was not at the race, but was with Vonn for training the past two days.
“It was just a bumper, I guess, and it looked worse than it was,” Hoedlmoser said.
With the Vancouver Olympics looming, Hoedlmoser said skipping the slalom might be a good idea.
“It definitely would make sense looking at the bigger picture for her to rest for a couple of days,” he said. “But I know Lindsey, and I know she wants to race.”
If Vonn’s arm is put in a cast, it will bring back memories of her injury at last season’s world championships, when she sliced her thumb open on a broken champagne bottle and ended up skiing for the rest of the season with her pole taped to her glove.
“Yeah, put the cast on, tape the pole to her hand and here we go again,” Hoedlmoser said.
Hoelzl led after the first run and posted a combined time of 2 minutes, 16.61 seconds to edge Manuela Moelgg of Italy by 0.05 seconds. Taina Barioz of France was third.
Olympic giant slalom champion Julia Mancuso did not qualify for the second run. The American hit a gate and nearly came to a standstill before finishing more than five seconds behind Hoelzl.
The top American finishers were Sarah Schleper (13th) and Megan McJames (20th).
AP sports writer Andrew Dampf in Bormio, Italy, contributed to this report.
