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The U.S. Olympic team says
Lindsey Vonn has broken her right pinkie after crashing out in the
first run of the giant slalom race.


      Vonn lost control around a right turn in the middle section of
the course Wednesday, got twisted around, landed hard on her left
hip and crashed backward into the safety netting.
    


  An injury report from Jim Moeller, the chief medical officer of
the U.S. Olympic Team, said Vonn had not yet decided if she will
race her final event at the Vancouver Games - Friday's slalom.


 Vonn's American teammate Julia Mancuso was the next skier down
the mountain and had to pull up midway through her run because Vonn
was still on the side of the course.


      Mancuso, the defending champion in giant slalom, ended up 18th
after starting the opening leg again and was visibly angry over the
disturbance.


      Vonn lost control around a right turn in the middle section of
the course, got twisted around, landed hard on her left hip and
crashed backward into the safety netting.


      "The course is breaking up at the bottom," Vonn said, holding
ice on her finger, adding that her back and shin were hurting as
well. "I got a little bit too inside and lost my outside ski. My
knee came up and hit my chin. ... I don't know honestly how I hurt
my hand.


      "I'm just a little bit beat up right now," added Vonn, who
also fell in the slalom leg of the super-combined last week.
"Things don't seem to be quite going my way."


      After being checked course-side for a few minutes, Vonn got up
and skied down to the finish.


      "I was like a pretzel -- so tangled up," Vonn said.


      Vonn was just getting over a bruised right shin, having opened
her Olympics with gold in downhill and bronze in super-G.


      While giant slalom is usually Vonn's worst event, she had posted
the fastest split times until her crash.


      "I was hoping for something today," Vonn said. "I was
charging, I was skiing hard. I'm disappointed in myself now that I
made that mistake. I can only keep smiling. I know I was skiing
well."

      Vonn had a difficult starting position, 17th, but was 0.35
second ahead of the pace by first-run leader Elisabeth Goergl of
Austria at the third split, just before the crash.
      


"She was in contention to win. To put four-tenths on this field
from No. 17 is incredible," said Thomas Vonn, the skier's husband,
unofficial coach and chief adviser. "You can win 99 percent of the
way and not have anything."


      Vonn's best career giant slalom finish was fourth in Aspen,
Colo., near her home in Vail, last season.

      This season, Vonn has had trouble with the conditions on GS
courses injected with water to create icier surfaces, and she
blamed inconsistent conditions when she hurt her wrist in a fall
during a GS in Lienz, Austria, at the end of December.


      Conditions were tough this time due to heavy fog and consistent
snowfall during the race.

      Mancuso was flagged down and had to make her way back up to the
top of the course for a later start, which usually is tougher with
the course deteriorating as one skier after another comes down.


      Restarting is also a test physically and mentally.


      "Well now its time to use that anger and fight second run!!"
Mancuso wrote on her Twitter account between runs. "That yellow
flag in the GS was such... I just want to scream. I'm really
miffed. Anyway, gotta take that energy and focus it for 2nd run."


      Vonn said she felt "terrible" for Mancuso, a rival since they
were kids.


      "She's mad, she's frustrated, she's probably mad at me," Vonn
said. "I feel terrible, and I hope she understands. I definitely
didn't want that to happen."

      The snowfall and low visibility prompted organizers to abandon
TV breaks during the run and send racers down the mountain at
shorter intervals to get everybody down before conditions worsened.


The second run of the Olympic women's giant slalom was postponed due to dense fog and
rescheduled for Thursday.

The fog has gotten worse over the course of the day, slowly creeping down the mountain and making it nearly
impossible to see, and eventually the second run was put off until
9:30 a.m. PST Thursday. 
     

 The forecast calls for rain and snow through Wednesday night and into Thursday.

Gallery

Austria's Fischbacher wins super-G, upsets Vonn

Vonn crashes, German takes super-combined title

Focus on Vonn only figures to increase after gold

Lindsey Vonn wins gold in women's downhill

Sports

Lindsey Vonn crashed out of
the first run of the Olympic giant slalom race Wednesday and broke er right pinkie.

Vonn crashes, breaks finger

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