Lindsey Vonn will have to reconstruct her right ACL, but if she did it now, it would pretty much end her chances of skiing at the Olympics in February.
So, the Olympic downhill champion is skiing on. She took more super-G practice runs at Vail, Colo., on Sunday morning and spoke to The Associated Press.
“Might as well see how long it holds up,” Vonn told the AP. “Not a lot of options. In the end, surgery is going to have to happen.”
Vonn would have proceeded the same way even if it wasn’t an Olympic season, she told the AP. Not only is she keen on defending her Olympic title, but Vonn is also three wins away from matching Austrian Annemarie Moser-Proell‘s record of 62 career World Cup victories.
Vonn, 29, partially tore her right ACL in a training crash on Nov. 19 in Copper Mountain, Colo. It’s the same knee she blew out in a crash at the World Championships in February.
That delayed her planned comeback at Beaver Creek, Colo., this weekend.
She will travel to Lake Louise, Alberta, this week to train downhill with hopes of skiing in races beginning Friday.
“Definitely with this current situation, there was no way I could’ve skied that bumpy, steep course (Beaver Creek),” Vonn told the AP. “I know it was the right decision. That gives me a peace of mind. I’m trying to look forward to Lake Louise and cheer for my team.”