Lindsey Vonn crashes in women's giant slalom

American Lindsey Vonn crashed in her first run of the morning giant slalom and slammed hard into a retaining net but appeared to have avoided serious injury.

Vonn, who has won two medals in the Olympics, was not a favorite in the GS. It is the only World Cup event she has never won. Vonn, in fact, has never finished in the top three.

Vonn was skiing from the No. 17 start position. Julia Mancuso, the defending Olympic champion in GS, drew the No. 18 bib and was held up on the course after Vonn crashed in snowy and foggy conditions.

“The course is breaking up at the bottom.  I got a little bit too inside and lost my outside ski,"  Vonn said. "My knee came up and hit my chin.  I got all tangled up and hit the fence.  I hurt my finger (pinkie) and need to get it x-rayed.”

-- Chris Dufresne, from Whistler

Photo: Vonn crashes in the women's giant slalom on Wednesday. Credit: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Dex]

Wasn't it just Friday that Vonn was hamming it up for fellow skiers by making fun of Tiger Woods? In her own words, she thought a skit in which she belittled him on SNL would be "freakin' funny." Who's laughing now, Lindsey? Nothin' like a heaping dose of karma to put things in perspective.

[Chuck]

Lindsey messed up on the course, doing the sport she's supposed to be good at. People screw up in sports all the time. Wide World of Sports pointed it out (with a skier) every week for decades.

Tiger messed up at life, doing something he thought he could be good at but failed miserably. If Tiger shanked a ball or hit himself in the head with a club or lost a tournament, we'd all wonder why, but it would be different. He screwed up at something most of us get right from the time we start dating. Even when you try two (or three)(or more!) at once, you don't let them come crashing together. Any high school kid knows that.

[Wayne]

Didn't think I'd ever say something like this about an Olympic athlete - especially one that won Gold...but...Vonn makes me SICK! The very first words out of here mouth when being interviwed after her win and asked about how the U.S. would fare in the next event in which she would compete was "I DON'T CARE!" "I GOT what *I* came here for"!!! Those remarks coupled with later ones of the same ilk show a lack of team commitmnet and an attitude of "it's all about ME" - not the U.S. team. Her subsequent performances in which she twice bombed - including one on a relatively simple course where she missed - didn't EVEN TRY to make - a gate are a perfect reflection of her childish, selfish frame of mind. And her giggly, Mary Poppins behavior in front of the camera makes it all the more obvious. Her coach neeeds to kick her butt and give her a severe attitude adjustment!

[yeah right]

I enjoyed the games, but I'm glad I don't have to hear any more about Lindsey or Apolo (the athletes NBC pushed on us 24/7). Newsflash, there were lots of other athletes at these games.