Vonn bid suffers a fresh injury setback
RED-HOT favourite Lindsey Vonn has revealed she is struggling with a shin injury ahead of her Winter Olympic bid in Vancouver this weekend.
The American, fancied by many to take gold in both the women’s downhill and super-combined events, has not skied at all since damaging her shin during a training run in Austria last week, and is also nursing a hand injury.
“I’m coming into these Olympics a lot more unsure than I was a few weeks ago,” the 25-year-old said.
“I at least want people to know what’s going on and if I don’t perform well, why that is. But I can guarantee you that I’m going to do everything I can to be as ready as I can with this injury and still try to ski well.”
Vonn is due to take part in her first official training run at Whistler today ahead of tomorrow’s opening ceremony before the women’s programme kicks off with the super-combi on Sunday.
Meanwhile, sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe has welcomed the stringent drug testing of every British athlete ahead of this year’s Winter Games.
UK Anti-Doping (Ukad) has announced it will test each Team GB athlete before the start of the Vancouver event tomorrow.
Sutcliffe said: “We want to lead the world in anti-doping. We have the team and infrastructure to make that happen. Athletes and fans must be confident that sport is clean and that everything is being done to catch drug cheats.”
Ukad chairman David Kenworthy added: “Our work with athletes leading into both the Winter Olympics and Paralympics is evidence that we have hit the ground running.
“We look forward to playing a lead role in protecting the right of athletes to compete in doping-free sport.”
Of the 1,500 tests conducted in the Turin Games of 2006, two were found to be positive.