Lindsey Vonn will probably race in the season-opening giant slalom in Soelden on Oct. 26 if she feels she can place in the top three, the U.S. Ski Team women’s head coach told The Associated Press.
“If she doesn’t feel like she’s 100 percent, we’re going to give her those weeks off until the U.S. races (beginning Nov. 29),” the coach, Alex Hoedlmoser, told the AP, adding that it’s “totally a day-by-day decision.”
The U.S. Ski Team confirmed Vonn will be training in Austria this week. The AP reported she was set to arrive Monday and begin training on snow Tuesday.
The reigning Olympic downhill champion reached the podium in her last World Cup giant slalom, winning in Maribor, Slovenia, on Jan. 26, before blowing out her right knee at the World Championships in February.
Her previous five giant slalom results were a 21st, 24th, 27th and two did not finishes.
Vonn’s best events are the downhill and super-G, which don’t debut on the World Cup circuit this season until Nov. 29 in Beaver Creek, Colo.
Vonn returned to on-snow training in Chile in September and looked impressive.
“By the end of the camp she was skiing super-G and GS like nothing really happened,” Hoedlmoser said.