Leader Lindsey Vonn will not come back to the World Cup this season after fracturing her left knee on Saturday.
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The ski racer originally had x-rays taken after the initial crash, and the results showed one hairline fracture in her leg. Vonn announced on Wednesday that there were “three more significant fractures” and that those could keep her from skiing safely moving forward this year.
The American ski star was evacuated off the slope by sled after crashing during a super-G event in Andorra Saturday – although she did return to competition 24 hours later in a knee brace.
Vonn, who stated the injury is a fractured tibial plateau, added that continuing to race on the damaged fragments could lead to substantial surgery, which would put her future at risk.
“After the super combined on Sunday, I went to Barcelona where more precise MRI and CT equipment was available and scans were performed on Tuesday morning”, Vonn said in a statement on her website.
“Because I am now leading the Overall World Cup standings, this is one of the toughest decisions of my career”, Vonn wrote.
In the post, Vonn writes she wants to be healthy for the World Championships next year in St. Moritz and the Winter Olympics in South Korea in 2018.
Vonn has won nine races this season after a hampered preparation.
The American, 31, suffered the injury on Saturday while competing in Andorra. Thinking it was a hairline fracture, Vonn explains she chose to race again the next day. So I raced on Sunday.
“So I have made the decision to end my season”.
The four-time overall victor, who has captured 76 World Cup races in total, will miss the remaining 2016 World Cup meetings in Slovakia and Switzerland, which run until March 20. She finished in 13 place in that race and stayed atop the World Cup leaderboard with the result. Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany is third with 914.Its a real shame that the tense fight for the overall title cant last until the end, Gut said in a Swiss ski federation statement. This is the second year in a row that Vonn has suffered an injury.
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– Winning a downhill in Cortina to eclipse Annemarie Moser-Proell’s mark of 36 career wins in skiing’s marquee event. She then won a super-G for her 11th career victory at the Italian resort, breaking the record of retired Austrian standout Renate Goetschl.
