Olympic star Lindsey Vonn will be out for the rest of the World Cup season after suffering a knee injury following a crash in a super-G race in Andorra on Saturday.
Vonn originally did not think that the injury was too serious, as she raced the following day in the combined event despite the crash. She finished in 13 place in that race and stayed atop the World Cup leaderboard with the result. Vonn announced on Facebook Wednesday that her knee injury was more serious than she originally thought, saying that she will now sit out for the rest of the season while she recovers.
The ski racer originally had x-rays taken after the initial crash, and the results showed one hairline fracture in her leg. Vonn announced on Wednesday that there were "three more significant fractures" and that those could keep her from skiing safely moving forward this year. She wrote that if she keeps skiing this year, she could cause "further damage" to her knee, which could "serious surgery that would risk my future in ski racing."
Vonn added that she is hoping to recover and participate in the World Championships in St. Moritz and the Winter Olympics in South Korea over the next two years. She is currently the leader in the World Cup standings with 1,235 points. Lara Gut is in second place with 1,207, while Viktoria Rebensburg is third with 914.
The World Cup leader has been one of the most consistent competitors on the circuit this season, as she has won nine races after missing the season-opener. She was recovering from a broken ankle injury, and she was able to come back to compete before suffering the knee injury in Andorra. Vonn set another milestone this year already with her results, as she broke Annemarie Moser-Proell's record for most World Cup downhill victories after winning at Cortina.
Vonn will miss the rest of the season with the knee injury. The World Cup tour schedule has a giant slalom and slalom race coming up this weekend in Slovakia. Vonn is not the only World Cup leader to drop out of competition this season, as men's overall leader Aksel Lund Svindal is also out with a knee injury.
"While I am confident that I'm making the right decision," Vonn wrote, "it still doesn't make this decision any easier."
