ZAGREB, Croatia – Lindsey Vonn could make her World Cup return in Austria next week, two months after undergoing surgery on a broken arm.
The Alpine director of the U.S. ski team, Patrick Riml, said Wednesday that Vonn had resumed ski training in Colorado this week and that she planned to travel to Europe at the weekend.
“She had a couple of free runs yesterday,” Riml said. “Her coach Chris (Knight) is on the way to Colorado. They are planning on free skiing today and then decide on what’s possible, on what makes sense.”
A downhill and a combined event are scheduled for Altenmarkt-Zauchensee on Jan. 14-15, with more speed races coming up in Germany and Italy ahead of the Feb. 6-19 world championships.
“Maybe she needs more training, maybe she feels confident,” Riml said. “We are hoping that she comes back rather sooner than later, maybe it’s Altenmarkt, maybe it’s Garmisch, maybe it’s Cortina. It all depends on how things are going the next couple of days.”
The four-time overall champion, who broke her right arm in a crash while training in Colorado in November, hasn’t raced since fracturing her left knee during a super-G crash in Andorra in February 2016.
The knee injury hampered her preparation for the new season, and Vonn decided to sit out the opening giant slalom race in October in order to focus on speed races in Canada late November.