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Lindsey Vonn bags Sochi

wa-loaf

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Lindsay Vonn offically out of the Olympics

Too bad, but not surprised considering the way things have been going for her.
 

billski

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It doesn't surprise me. She's either placed low or not raced at the World Cups so far this year. I am however surprised she is having more surgery. She had surgery back in the spring. I'm surprised she hasn't recovered. Maybe she pushed it too hard and re-injured herself.

The most interesting alpine people to watch will be Ted Ligety and Mikaela Schriffin, who came up from out of nowhere(Burke). Not so sure that dear old Jules has it in her for a top rank, but I'll be rooting for her nonetheless. Bode is back, but the jury is out on him in my mind.

Too bad; the US has been on a tear the last few years - the best performances in at least three decades.
 

Puck it

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It doesn't surprise me. She's either placed low or not raced at the World Cups so far this year. I am however surprised she is having more surgery. She had surgery back in the spring. I'm surprised she hasn't recovered. Maybe she pushed it too hard and re-injured herself.

The most interesting alpine people to watch will be Ted Ligety and Mikaela Schriffin, who came up from out of nowhere(Burke). Not so sure that dear old Jules has it in her for a top rank, but I'll be rooting for her nonetheless. Bode is back, but the jury is out on him in my mind.

Too bad; the US has been on a tear the last few years - the best performances in at least three decades.

Where have you been? She crashed at Copper and tore the reconstructed ACL again.
 

deadheadskier

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Yes, Bill. She re-tore the ACL at the start of the season. She had been trying to strengthen the muscles around it and keep pushing on as many high end athletes do, but it didn't work out. She probably should have just bagged this thing back in the fall and went under the knife, but at 29 she's getting up there in years for a ski racer. Sochi might have been her last shot at skiing in the Olympics. Hopefully not.
 

wa-loaf

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Where have you been? She crashed at Copper and tore the reconstructed ACL again.

Again, where have you been :razz:? She is still a teenager (for this year and next year!) but she has been performing well on the World Cup scene for going on three years now.

Bill's been too busy working the weather sites to focus on World Cup ...
 

drjeff

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Again, where have you been :razz:? She is still a teenager (for this year and next year!) but she has been performing well on the World Cup scene for going on three years now.

Exactly! She's now "only" won 6 world cup slaloms, a couple of GS podiums, a world cup overall slalom title and a world championships gold in slalom last year. She's the real deal (and only 18 still!) and will likely be the team leader of the US Women's Ski Team once Julia Mancuso and Lindsey Vonn decide to retire from racing.
 

drjeff

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Too bad for Lindsey. She was going for it with an aggressive rehab schedule for her knee, and just doesn't have that little voice inside of her head, that most of us do, that would tell her to "back off" a touch during her training. That combined with the HUGE forces that downhill places on one's knees were just too much.

I know that many young, aspiring ski racers will be crushed to hear this, as especially many of the girls in youth ski racing really look up to her for all she's accomplished.

I just hope that she can get a full and complete knee rehab done now and be able to compete in the 2015 Alpine World Championships at Vail/Beavercreek infront of her home town for much of her life. That would likely be a fitting end to a GREAT worldcup career, as 2018 might be just too much to ask of her physically given the demands it places on ones body and the injuries she's sustained over her 10+ years racing on the Worldcup
 

dlague

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Yes, Bill. She re-tore the ACL at the start of the season. She had been trying to strengthen the muscles around it and keep pushing on as many high end athletes do, but it didn't work out. She probably should have just bagged this thing back in the fall and went under the knife, but at 29 she's getting up there in years for a ski racer. Sochi might have been her last shot at skiing in the Olympics. Hopefully not.

Well Bode is 36 and is planning to compete providing he qualifies! There are some rules that may prevent him from doing so because he did not race last year. So if she can become competitive again she could have one more shot.
 

SIKSKIER

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There are some rules that may prevent him from doing so because he did not race last year.

Here is the story I saw in the Huff Post

BORMIO, Italy (AP) — Picture this for the Sochi Olympics: Bode Miller not allowed to defend his super-combined title, Lindsey Vonn limited to two events and other medal contenders held out of some of their favorite disciplines.
It's a scenario that top skiers are calling "absurd" but that could become a reality — at least, that's how the big Alpine nations are interpreting the International Ski Federation's (FIS) complex new Olympic qualifying rules.
"We're waiting for FIS to clarify what it means and how it works," U.S. Ski Team men's head coach Sasha Rearick told The Associated Press on Monday — three weeks before he has to name his team for Sochi. "It's critical that we have a fair solution and the top athletes can compete in the events they deserve to."
At issue are rules put in place last year to help smaller nations gain Olympic qualifying spots. In the fine print, the rules require skiers to finish a certain number of races in a discipline over last season and this season — up to Jan. 19 — to qualify for that event in Sochi. It's five races for the technical events of slalom and giant slalom, and three for the speed events of downhill, super-G and super-combined.
For the men's super-combined, those rules mean Miller, American world champion Ted Ligety and Austrian standout Benjamin Raich could all miss out. And the injured Vonn — if she decides to compete in Sochi — would be limited to just two events — downhill and super-G.
Miller took off last season to let his surgically repaired left knee heal, Vonn has not raced much since crashing at last season's worlds and subsequent knee surgery. And while Ligety won gold medals in super-G, super-combined and giant slalom at last season's worlds, he did not finish the only two World Cup super-combined races last season.
Raich and fellow Austrians Anna Fenninger and Kathrin Zettel also don't have enough results in super-combi.
"It's stupid. It's not a good rule," said Peter Schroecksnadel, the president of the Austrian ski federation. "The strongest nations should be able to have the strongest athletes."
FIS men's World Cup director Gunter Hujara is promising a last-minute change.

"We will handle it at the end," he announced at a team captain's meeting Sunday. "There may be some adaptations done in the next few days. That's the only answer I can give for now."
FIS secretary general Sarah Lewis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The rules states that the previous results don't have to come in a World Cup race, but could also be in the lower-tier Europa Cup and other FIS events.
That's why the Austrian ski federation set up FIS super-combined races on home snow in Innerkrems last week — one of which was won by Frederic Berthold, the son of Austria men's head coach Mathias Berthold. The Austrians were initially planning to enter Raich and other top athletes but then withdrew them, expecting a rule change.
Still, women's super-combis are scheduled for Innerkrems this week.
"It's crazy if you have to manipulate the system like that and implement races so you get starts," U.S. Alpine director Patrick Riml said.
With his gold-medal performance at the worlds as his only result, Ligety still needs two super-combined finishes to qualify. He could get one in the super-combi in Wengen, Switzerland, on Jan. 17, but would need one more.
"If they don't let the best guys race then it would be absurd," Ligety said. "It wouldn't be an event. ... They'll get it figured out. They'll make it so the best guys can race. It wouldn't make any sense otherwise."
Ligety, Miller, Vonn and the Austrians would still qualify for the Olympics in other events.
Another issue is the number of racers that the big teams can bring to Sochi. Usually, for teams like Austria, Switzerland and the U.S. it's 22. But for now, Austria and Switzerland are at 20 and the U.S. is only at 19.
But the numbers will go up once the small nations give back the spots they don't need — or can't fill.
"The big nations should not wait for small nations to give spots back so we can have our top athletes performing," Riml said. "They have to rethink the whole system. It's not right."
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