GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany — Lindsey Vonn is still struggling to recover from a mild concussion. So much so, the reigning overall World Cup champion likely will skip her next event at the world championships or possibly withdraw.
The super-combined Friday is probably off her schedule.
“It’s not official yet, but it’s looking like that,” Vonn’s husband and chief adviser, Thomas Vonn, said Wednesday. “If she comes out (today) and feels great and does a fast training session, we could re-evaluate, but it’s unlikely at this point that she’ll compete in combined.”
The Vail skier crashed and landed on her head in a spectacular fall in giant slalom training a week ago in Austria. She immediately had a CAT scan and was cleared to compete. But she clearly was not herself in the opening super-G on Tuesday, finishing seventh.
On Wednesday, Lindsey and Thomas Vonn agreed she shouldn’t have raced.
“Nobody wants her to go into it if she’s not fully healthy. But the day before, the way she was training, I would have been willing to bet that she was going to win,” Thomas Vonn said. “But then she took a few steps backward. I don’t know what it was, whether it was just the stress of a world championships race or what.”
On Wednesday night, Vonn planned to meet with U.S. team doctor William Sterett for another evaluation. Because Sterett is primarily an orthopedic surgeon, Thomas Vonn said they were considering a specialist.
“Even if they brought in the world’s best specialist, they would probably tell her the same thing: Rest until it feels better,” Thomas Vonn said. “The problem is, it’s not like there’s a pill you can take.”
Vonn likely will try downhill training today and re-evaluate. She already skipped the opening downhill training session Wednesday. She would need to enter at least one training session to be able to compete in the super-combined Friday or the downhill Sunday.
“She’s prepared to skip races at this point, if necessary,” Thomas Vonn said.
U.S. teammate Ted Ligety said: “All of us just kind of shake our head at it. I shouldn’t say anything — you can’t comment on other people’s injuries — but all I know is lots of people ski with lots of bad injuries and nobody says anything.”
