Lindsey Vonn tipped to make a gold medal charge by her coach a week after the 41-year-old American skier tore her cruciate ligament: 'She looks symmetrical!'
Lindsey Vonn has been tipped to mount an improbable gold medal bid after emerging unscathed from her downhill practise one week after rupturing her knee ligaments.
The American was quickest through the middle section of the course in Cortina on Thursday before a late error dropped her to 11th out of 43.
There was enough evidence in the training run to suggest the 41-year-old could yet defy conventional wisdom, despite competing in a thick brace on her left knee after the horror smash in Switzerland that saw her airlifted to hospital last Friday.
Asked about her medal prospects, Vonn's coach Aksel Lund Svindal said: 'I think she can, because there were reserves today. She looks symmetrical. You've seen earlier this season, when she skis well, she can win.
'From what I saw today, I think she can. It's going to be hard, but she could possibly bring that on Sunday.'
Vonn has refused to give up on the possibility of a second gold medal, 16 years after her first, but the odds are heavily stacked against her.
Lindsey Vonn made it through practise unscathed just days on from tearing her ACL and has been tipped by her coach to make a gold medal charge
Despite the scepticism, Svindal is optimistic. He added: 'She was smart today, she didn't go all in. She made a mistake on the bottom, but the rest looked like good skiing. No big risk.
'I didn't see any differences (between her) right and left (side) and that's what we were looking for today, so it was good. She's tough, let's put it this way.
'I tried to calm her down because I didn't want her to push too hard, because it's the first training run.
'Free skiing is one thing – everyone can make a perfect turn when you decide when to make the turn – (but) when you're squeezed into a downhill course, it's something different. I thought it went really well.
'She was really calm. Maybe I was more nervous, because this is important for everyone. If this works it would be awesome. If something happened, it would be bad.
'But she's been very committed since the first day. She is convinced this will work.'
