Lindsey Vonn heading home, surgery expected next week

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="asset-metabar-wrap" style="clear: both; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin: 20px 0px 23px 70px;"><div class="asset-metabar" itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" style="border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(230, 230, 230); display: table-cell; margin: 20px 0px 0px; width: 888px;"><span class="asset-metabar-author asset-metabar-item" itemprop="name" style="float: left; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;">Andrew Dampf, Associated Press</span><span class="asset-metabar-time asset-metabar-item " style="border-left-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #999999; float: left; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;">9:06a.m. EST February 6, 2013</span><span class="asset-metabar-time asset-metabar-item " style="border-left-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #999999; float: left; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;">From: http://www.usatoday.com</span></div></div><div class="asset-double-wide double-wide" itemprop="articleBody" role="main" style="color: #222222; float: left; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; position: relative; width: 600px;"><h2 class="lead-in" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; line-height: 27px; margin-left: 60px; margin-top: -2px;">U.S. champion skier Lindsey Vonn is facing surgery next week for her serious knee injuries</h2><div class="article-metadata-wrap" style="float: left; height: auto; margin: 0px 30px 0px 60px; position: relative;"><aside class="single-photo expandable-collapsed" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 20px; position: relative; width: 180px; z-index: 100;"><div class="image-wrap" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; box-shadow: rgb(200, 200, 200) 1px 1px 5px; cursor: pointer; padding: 3px; position: relative;"><img alt="Vonn 2-6-13" class="expand-img-horiz" itemprop="url" src="http://www.gannett-cdn.com/media/USATODAY/USATODAY/2013/02/06/vonn-2-6-13-4_3_r536_c534.jpg?1b79b3da202957124496e3768cfb7b67cdb10c81" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-height: 131px; vertical-align: middle;" /><span class="toggle" style="background-image: url(http://www.gannett-cdn.com/static/images/sprites/asset-sprite.png); background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; bottom: 0px; height: 21px; position: absolute; right: 0px; width: 21px; z-index: 200;"></span></div><div class="image-credit-wrap" style="color: #646464; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 6px; padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px;"><span class="credit" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: 400;">(Photo: GEPA/USA TODAY Sports)</span></div></aside><div class="article-metadata" style="position: relative;"><aside class="comp story-highlights " style="clear: left; float: left; margin: 0px 0px 20px; min-height: 60px; width: 180px;"><h3 class="hlts" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #999999; font-family: 'Futura Today Bold', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px auto; text-transform: uppercase;">STORY HIGHLIGHTS</h3><ul class="hlt" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; left: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><li class="hlt-item" style="background-image: url(http://www.gannett-cdn.com/static/images/components/story_highlights_bullets.png); background-position: 0px 17px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #646464; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; padding: 12px 0px 12px 15px;">Lindsey Vonn left Austrian hospital late Tuesday, and in statement said she's "grateful" for all the support</li><li class="hlt-item" style="background-image: url(http://www.gannett-cdn.com/static/images/components/story_highlights_bullets.png); background-position: 0px 17px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #646464; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; padding: 12px 0px 12px 15px;">Team physician left open possibility of more than one surgery but does not expect it to go that way</li><li class="hlt-item" style="background-image: url(http://www.gannett-cdn.com/static/images/components/story_highlights_bullets.png); background-position: 0px 17px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; color: #646464; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; padding: 12px 0px 12px 15px;">Vonn said to be a little banged up and sore from bruises</li></ul></aside></div></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">SCHLADMING, Austria - American skier Lindsey Vonn will head home for surgery next week after tearing two ligaments in her right knee and breaking a bone in her lower leg in Tuesday's crash at the world championships.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Vonn was released from the hospital late Tuesday and returned to the team hotel.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"I am grateful to my fans for the outpouring of support, which has really helped me stay positive," Vonn said in a statement Wednesday, a day after her crash here.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"I can assure you that I will work as hard as humanly possible to be ready to represent my country next year in Sochi" at the 2014 Winter Olympics.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">U.S. Ski Team physician William Sterett, who has been treating Vonn since she was a child, was with her on the snow after the crash, then at a Schladming hospital where she was airlifted to.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"She'll be heading back to Vail (Colorado) and I will be doing surgery on her knee early next week," Sterett told The Associated Press on Wednesday.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">He would not set a return date to skiing for Vonn until after the surgery. Other doctors have speculated that Vonn could be looking at six to eight months before she's back on skis.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Sterett also left open the possibility of Vonn requiring more than one surgery, saying that with these types of injuries "that's always a possibility."</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"I plan on returning to Vail as soon as I can to have the necessary surgeries," Vonn said in her statement, although the plan for now was only one operation.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><img alt="None" src="http://www.gannett-cdn.com/media/USATODAY/USATODAY/2013/02/05/lv2-4_3_rx512_c680x510.jpg?0f5c31de35bf4ef88a50c2e35ee3bc4da4bf3083" /></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"></div><div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">On the same slopes Wednesday, American Ted Ligety produced a blistering finish to win his first super-G, taking a lot of risks in the turning final section and mastering the Planai course in 1 minute, 23.96 seconds.</div><div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">The crash in Tuesday's women's race had not been on his mind, Ligety said.</div><div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"It's very sad for Lindsey because she was doing great but it didn't matter for my race," he said. "You have to move on. I am sure she will be back next year. As a ski racer, you can't let that affect you too much."</div><div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Vonn tore her anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament in her right knee. The broken bone was described as a "lateral tibial plateau fracture."</div><div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"The fracture is called an impaction fracture," Sterett said. "It should not require any surgery. It just needs to be non-weight on crutches."</div><div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Sterett said Vonn got great medical care here, as did Vonn in her statement: "I want to say thank you to the amazing medical staff that cared for me."</div><div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">The team said it expects Vonn, the four-time overall champion, will be back for the next World Cup season and will compete at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.</div><div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"Best wishes to my Minnesota buddy @lindseyvonn...Good luck with the surgery! Thinking of ya! U.S. tennis player Mardy Fish tweeted Wednesday.</div><div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">The harrowing accident came after Vonn landed off a jump in the opening race at the championships, the super-G. As she hit the ground, her right leg gave way and she spun down face first, throwing an arm out to protect herself. She ended up on her back as she smashed through a gate.</div><div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"The hospital staff did an excellent job with X-rays, MRI," Sterett said. "She had very good care and they were very, very helpful."</div><div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Sterett said Vonn was "a little banged up, and sore everywhere," without going into details on her bruises.</div><div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"She's in good spirits and upbeat. She's intently focusing on the next step and the next step now is getting from point A to point B, with point B being next season," he said. "She's determined and upbeat."</div><div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Sterett said that due to intense media attention, he won't say when Vonn will leave Schladming.</div></div></div>

Lindsey Vonn Lindsey Vonn heading home, surgery expected next week

Andrew Dampf, Associated Press 9:06a.m. EST February 6, 2013 From: http://www.usatoday.com U.S. champion skier Lindsey Vonn is facing surger...

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