crashed out of the first run of the giant slalom today, with snow blowing and fog hanging in the air. She would have won the race, but at 150 yards from the finish line, her left ski slipped as she rounded a gate, which knocked her backwards. She fell on her right hip and injured her back, right knee, right hand, and chin.
The crash was also bad news for , who was already halfway through her run when officials stopped her because Vonn was still caught in a net at the bottom of the hill.
“I was kind of twisted like a pretzel in there and she asked me if Iwas O.K., and I said I was,” Vonn said, according to . “Then she asked the coaches howto get back up to the top.”
Mancuso had to do a re-run and ended up finishing 18th.
“I feel terrible,” Vonn said. “I wanted to do well and I certainlydidn’t want to crash and affect my teammate's medal chances. I wouldn'twish that on anyone. I was trying for something today and I wasskiing well, but it turns out it wasn't my day. I'm sure it was veryhard on Julia. It's a huge disadvantage. I know she's disappointed andprobably mad at me, but I wish I had finished my run, too.”
–Aileen Torres