Lindsey Vonn Hospitalized After Crash
Gold medalist skier Lindsey Vonn crashed during the FIS Alpine Ski World Championship Super-G race in Schladming, Austria, Tuesday and was airlifted to a hospital by helicopter.
The World Cup champion from Vail, Colo., appeared to have lost balance on her right leg after coming around a turn trying to stick a landing after a jump. Her right ski came off immediately, and Vonn slid down the course for several feet on her back before hitting a gate and coming to a stop.
The Associated Press reported that Vonn tore her cruciate and lateral ligaments in her right knee.
Vonn, 28, had posted the fastest first interval and was having a strong run when she went down. She was immediately attended to by race medical officials and then taken to the hospital by helicopter, as is standard protocol, according to a statement from the U.S. Ski Team.
Neither her U.S. team nor her publicist had immediate information on her condition, only to say that she was being evaluated.
Vonn is a highly decorated skiing star. With 59 World Cup victories under her belt, Vonn is one of only five women to have won World Cup races in all five disciplines of Alpine skiing - downhill, super G, giant slalom, slalom and super combined.
Expected to make a huge appearance at the upcoming 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Vonn previously took home a gold medal for downhill skiing and the bronze for the Super-G race at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Vonn started racing again in January after missing a few weeks of the season to recover from an intestinal illness, according to the AP.
ABC News' Sarah RuthGillis contributed to this report
