Thomas Vonn says Lindsey has ‘turned the corner’ on shin injury
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Great moments in journalism. I was looking for the restroom at the Whistler press center when I ran smack-dab into Thomas Vonn, the husband of star skier Lindsey Vonn.
In an ‘exclusive’ one-on-one interview, Thomas sounded optimistic about Lindsey’s chances to race in the Olympics, although her important downhill training run on Thursday was delayed due to poor weather conditions and an injury to her teammate Stacey Cook. Cook, racing second, had to be sent off via helicopter.
Thomas said Lindsey ‘ramped up the painkillers’ and went free skiing on Thursday morning, with Thomas following her down the slope.
‘She looked OK,’ Thomas said. ‘That made me smile.’
Vonn injured her right shin during a training run last week in Austria but kept it a secret until Wednesday.
Painkillers? Thomas said his wife was taking Tylenol and also rubbing a numbing cream on her shin. Thomas said Lindsey didn’t want to take anything stronger because it might cloud her judgment.
Thomas said we won’t really know if Vonn is able to race until she takes a serious downhill training run and that might not happen Thursday because of the inclement conditions.
Actually, the Vonns are rooting for bad weather in the hope Sunday’s first women’s event, the super combined, might be postponed. The forecast for the next three days is not good, putting the scheduled start of Saturday’s men’s downhill in jeopardy.
Thomas said the weather delays would give Lindsey’s injury more time to heal.
‘We would welcome that at this point,’ Thomas said.
-- Chris Dufresne in Whistler
