Marianne Kaufmann-Abderhalden of Switzerland earned her first World Cup victory on Saturday by winning a women’s downhill that was marked by a number of big crashes and Lindsey Vonn skiing out and then clutching her injured right knee in pain.
Kaufmann-Abderhalden followed up her second-place finish in a downhill in Lake Louise this month by clocking 1 minute, 47.28 seconds to beat defending overall champion Tina Maze of Slovenia by 0.29 seconds.
“It was the first win, but the season began very well for me in Beaver (Creek) and Lake Louise. I had three very good downhill races,” Kaufmann-Abderhalden said. “I have done a lot of hard work since the summer, a lot of physical training. ”
Vonn, who had boyfriend Tiger Woods watching on in the finish area, seemed to suffer a setback when she lost her balance and her left ski went up in the air, putting all her weight on her surgically repaired right knee as she skied off course. She didn’t fall but grimaced as she pulled up, clutching her knee in a worrying sign ahead of the Sochi Olympics.
Vonn needed surgery in February to reconstruct two knee ligaments after a crash at the world championships, and then partially re-tore one of them in November.
“I didn’t hurt myself more than I’m already hurt,” Vonn said. “It was a small compression, and it was fully loaded on the right ski and my knee just completely gave out. I tried to pressure the ski again and it gave out again. I had no chance of making that gate, unfortunately.”
Vonn, however, remains optimistic that she can be ready for Sochi.
