By Alan Baldwin
CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Lindsey Vonn knows all about skiing through injury but she will be seeking support from another Alpine great whose career was punctuated by pain when she hits the downhill slope at the Milano Cortina Olympics.
The 41-year-old U.S. speed queen revealed on Tuesday that she intended to ski Sunday's opening race despite suffering a completely ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee after crashing in Switzerland last Friday.
"I know
how to manage myself. I know how to manage my energy, and the swelling, and physically what it takes to be able to push through, and to persevere through these circumstances," she said.
Lending helpful and useful advice will be Norwegian former Olympic champion Aksel Lund Svindal, who joined her personal coaching team last August.
A gold medallist in super-G at the 2010 Vancouver Games and in downhill at Pyeongchang in 2018, the five-times world champion retired in 2019 after a career with several major surgical interventions.
"I lean on my coaches and Aksel is someone that I've leaned on throughout the season. And he knows the position that I'm in as well," said Vonn.
"So I think that will definitely help me and get me confidence when I'm standing at the starting gate."
When Vonn started her season last December, the final push of a comeback that started in 2024 after nearly six years out, she spoke of Svindal's positive influence.
"It's been so amazing to have him. It's literally being coached by my best friend who happens to be a badass ski racer," she said then.
"He knows what to do, like he's been in the start a million times. I think just his calm energy is really helpful to me because sometimes I get really intense and sometimes it's good to just tone it down a little bit.
"I think he's just always so stable and that gives me peace of mind."
An ACL injury would normally be season-ending, or even career-threatening, but Vonn said she had suffered worse at the 2019 world championships where she finished third in downhill despite a knee brace and support.
She had announced her retirement before those championships, saying her body was "broken beyond repair" and "screaming to stop".
Before the 2014 Sochi Olympics she had also raced with a torn ACL in her right knee, without realising it at the time.
Vonn said her main concern was instability in the knee joint and hoped a brace would prevent any further damage and allow her to race.
"As long as I can keep it stable, as long as I have the brace on, as long as I have no swelling, and my muscles are activating appropriately, I should be OK," she said.
(Reporting by Alan BaldwinEditing by Christian Radnedge)
