Lindsey Vonn could return to the International Ski Federation (FIS) Alpine Skiing World Cup action this weekend at the Austrian resort of Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, although poor weather might force the event to be cancelled.
The Vancouver 2010 downhill Olympic champion from the United States crashed in training back in November and underwent successful surgery to repair a fractured humerus bone in her right arm, forcing her out of action.
Vonn was also ruled out for the a large part of last season after she suffered a fractured leg during a crash during a super-G World Cup event in Soldeu, Andorra, in February.
Despite having a hairline fracture, the American was participated in the following day’s Alpine combined competition.
The 32-year-old holds the record of being one of just six women to have won World Cup races in all five disciplines of alpine skiing – downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom and super combined.
Vonn is the defending champion in both of the downhill and combined events at Altenmarkt-Zauchensee.
A downhill event is scheduled to take place in tomorrow before an Alpine combined event on Sunday (January 15).
However, the competition’s schedule has been significantly changed as a result of weather conditions.
Too much snowfall on the course forced the cancellation of yesterday’s downhill training run while weather has also caused today’s practice to be abandoned.
As a result, organizers have decided to push ahead with the plan for a downhill race on Saturday with the mandatory training run penciled in before the race.
But additional snowfall is forecast for tomorrow which may force the downhill event to be either moved to Sunday or cancelled and moved to another location, possibly during next week’s World Cup event in Garmisch Partenkirchen in Germany.
Vonn’s compatriot Mikaela Shiffrin, the Sochi 2014 slalom gold medalist, currently leads the overall Alpine Skiing World Cup with 1,008 points.
Switzerland’s Lara Gut, the reigning World Cup champion, is second with 643 points while France’s Tessa Worley is third with 563.
By Max Winters
Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz.