Best sports un-retirement of the weekend.
- Thread starter Snopro
- Start date
Paige
Wishing I was fishing the Sauk
Open SmartNews and read "Lindsey Vonn injury update: U.S. ski star pens message after viral crash leading to airlift: ‘My Olympic dream is not over’" here: https://l.smartnews.com/p-74pyDpny/VGFpkq
To read it on the web, tap here: https://l.smartnews.com/74pyDpni/VGFpkq
And the bionic lady's quest continues. One week after completely blowing out her ACL on her one good knee Lindsey Vonn got into the starting gate for the first training run of the Olympic Downhill and completed her run finishing less than a second out of first. It has already been an achievement that can only be described perhaps as superhuman. Don't count her out on Sunday. What a story that would be.
Wasatchangler
Steelhead
Having ruptured my acl skiing this year, I cannot fathom racing on it a week later. Getting in and out of the car was a struggle enough. Incredibly impressive.
They're brass and large. Go USA!
Paige
Wishing I was fishing the Sauk
I watched a clip from a DR that stated that through the 20+ yrs of racing that it hardens the surrounding muscles, mainly the hamstring and allows her to race still. That and a very very good brace.
It's kinda like when dogs gat bad hips they take the socket out and the leg is just held by the muscles, and dogs can run and jump just fine after.
... This is what I was most worried about - very hard to watch and hear. Wishing her well.
Unfortunate for sure, wishing her the best.
Just crushing to watch. She drew bib #13.....
It is just unfathomable to me the risk and pain she and so many other top athletes put themselves through. One (pretty major) injury was all it took for me to quit racing motorcycles, yet she and so many others fight to return again and again.
Watching sports that carry a huge amount of risk is hard for me. When it all goes well you just marvel at the skill and dedication required. When it all goes wrong, it affects you as if you know and are close to the person.
Shitty start to the day.
It is just unfathomable to me the risk and pain she and so many other top athletes put themselves through. One (pretty major) injury was all it took for me to quit racing motorcycles, yet she and so many others fight to return again and again.
Watching sports that carry a huge amount of risk is hard for me. When it all goes well you just marvel at the skill and dedication required. When it all goes wrong, it affects you as if you know and are close to the person.
Shitty start to the day.
What a completely stupid comment. Silly boy.
Surgery for a broken leg. Hoping for a speedy and full recovery - hope she retires, but I have a suspicion she may try top come back as she will not want this to be her legacy.
Which may or may not have factored into her crash. Broken legs can and do happen to downhill racers all the time torn ACL or not. Could have happened to any one of them.
I started ski racing before I was 10, at first training on the hill behind my house in VT on a course my Dad packed and put under lights so I could ski after dinner. My childhood dream was to get myself into the position to compete on the highest level and I went through my share of injuries, broken bones and surgeries trying to make that happen. Ultimately it was a lack of natural talent that kept me from achieving that goal but I have always cherished having that dream. The ACL injury had absolutely nothing to do with why she fell. Her right pole became entangled with a gate when she was already in the air yanking her body around. A freak and unlikely occurrence. And as far as the "chasing headlines" comment goes I feel a bit sorry if you are someone who has never been willing to take a few chances in the quest to fulfill a dream. I will always be glad that was not me.
Vonn came back to the WC circuit after six years of retirement to be one of the best DHers of the season. Vonn posted the third fastest time in her training run AFTER blowing out her knee - an injury that puts most skiers off snow for six months or more. There's no question that Vonn, her training team, and her management team know far more about what she's potentially capable of vs. whats reckless than you do.
Over the years I've had the good fortune to ski and train with World Cup, Olympic, Freeride World Tour, and X Games competitors, including many gold medal winners, world champions and so forth. There's zero chance of competing, let alone being a medal contender, in a high-risk sport like DH without having right skillset and mindset to put it all on the line like Vonn did. Their definition of "reckless" is far different than most other skiers, let alone the clueless general public.
FWIW I when I was much younger I competed on the WC tele ski racing circuit for a couple seasons and then the freeskiing circuit for a couple seasons but retired quickly from competitive skiing because I didn't have what it took (mentally, physically, or financially) to be anywhere near the podium consistently.