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Lindsey Vonn’s status ‘up in the air’

Lindsey Vonn

Lindsey Vonn gets to the finish area of an alpine ski, women’s World Cup downhill, in Val D’Isere, France, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2013. Lindsey Vonn is confident that her latest knee trouble will not stop her from competing at the Sochi Games in February. With boyfriend Tiger Woods watching from the bottom of the slope, Vonn missed a gate in Saturday’s World Cup downhill at Val d’Isere as her troublesome right knee buckled under her and gave way. The American was clearly distressed after skiing off course and looked close to tears. She didn’t fall but grimaced as she pulled up, clutching her knee. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

AP

Lindsey Vonn has not trained on snow in two weeks, most likely will not race next weekend and might not be able to race in the Olympics if she has another injury setback, a U.S. Ski Team coach told The Associated Press on Saturday.

“She’s recovering and preparing and everything is [up] in the air,” said U.S. women’s ski team coach Alex Hoedlmoser, according to the AP. “Right now it’s a total open book.”

“We don’t know. It totally depends on how she recovers, how the knee feels, if she gets the strength back, the stability in the knee.”

Hoedlmoser, who last spoke to Vonn on Thursday, said the skier has not trained on snow since Dec. 21, when she skied out of a downhill race in Val d’Isere, France, when she said her right knee “completely gave out.” It swelled up afterward.

Hoedlmoser said Vonn might not race again before the Olympics on Dec. 29.

Her best events are speed races -- downhill and super-G. The final World Cup speed races before the Olympics -- after next weekend’s events in Altenmarkt, Austria -- are in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, from Jan. 18-19 and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, on Jan. 25-26.

“We would like to see her get a couple more races in, but the injury she has, she’s always taking some risks doing that,” Hoedlmoser told the AP. “And [if she has] another setback then she might not be able to do the Olympics.”

Vonn, the 2010 Olympic downhill champion, blew out her right knee at the World Championships last February. She returned to skiing on snow in late August, partially retore her right ACL in November and returned to competition in early December.

The Olympic downhill is Feb. 12. The Olympic super-G is Feb. 15. Vonn won gold and bronze, respectively, in those races at the Vancouver Olympics.

Vonn has not commented on her status since Dec. 21.

“I didn’t hurt myself more than I’m already hurt,” Vonn said after skiing out in Val d’Isere, according to the AP. “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.”

At the time, Vonn thought her next race would be “sometime in January.”

“I’m at risk of doing more damage to my knee and my meniscus,” she said in Val d’Isere. “So I’m going to play it safe and race really minimal races. Probably one or two before the Olympics.”

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