Lindsey Vonn fell and crashed into the safety netting on the final turn Friday in the women's season-opening World Cup downhill, handing Austria's Cornelia Huetter the victory.
An 18-time winner at Lake Louise, Vonn was able to get up and ski to the bottom of the course. She was the fastest at each of the four intermediate stages before wiping out.
Video of Lindsey Vonn's crash that she walked away from. pic.twitter.com/6PAEFMni85
— Nick Zaccardi (@nzaccardi) December 1, 2017
Vonn is back at the resort west of Calgary after missing the stop last season because of a broken arm. The 33-year-old American star has a record 77 career women's World Cup victories. She is a four-time overall World Cup champion and won the 2010 Olympic women's downhill.
.@lindseyvonn skied across the finish line under her own power following a crash at the Lake Louise World Cup downhill. pic.twitter.com/ISiQGZ6kyY
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) December 1, 2017
Vonn explained on Twitter that she caught her inside ski and plans to rest up tonight and "barring anything major" will be racing against Saturday.
Well that hurt... had a nice lead the whole way down but caught my inside ski. That’s ski racing though! I’ll be sore tomorrow but will rest up tonight and barring anything major I will be racing. Can’t keep me down! Congrats on the podium today too👏🏻 https://t.co/Kh0n4UGEkr
— lindsey vonn (@lindseyvonn) December 1, 2017
A second downhill is scheduled for Saturday, followed by a super-G on Sunday.
In steady snow, Huetter raced to her first downhill victory and second overall World Cup win. She finished in 1 minute, 48.53 seconds.
Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein was second in 1:48.62.
American Mikaela Shiffrin was third in 1:48.83, the first podium in downhill for Shiffrin — a slalom specialist and the defending overall World Cup champion.
American Jackie Wiles was fifth for her second career World Cup top-five finish.
