U.S. women recover from injury and illness

After being cleared to return to skiing Monday, World Cup overall champion Lindsey Vonn is on the road to recovery following a bruised left knee when she crashed during a training run Nov. 19 in Copper Mountain, CO.After being cleared to return to skiing Monday, World Cup overall champion Lindsey Vonn is on the road to recovery following a bruised left knee when she crashed during a training run Nov. 19 in Copper Mountain, CO.

“Things are positive, we’re feeling confident that we’ll see her starting in Aspen,” U.S. Ski Team Alpine Director, Jesse Hunt says.

The injury came at an importune time for the 24 year-old Minnesota native, who, only four days before, won the opening World Cup slalom in Levi, Finland and became the only American woman to have won in four World Cup disciplines.
      
“She hasn’t been cleared to race yet, but she has been cleared to go and try and do some skiing,” Hunt says. “It’s just a question of how she progresses between now and the races.”

In a statement on usskiteam.com, Vonn said her knee was feeling “awesome” after skiing on it Monday. "I had a smile on my face the entire time I was on snow and I was cleared to start training again. It's still day-to-day on whether I'll be able to race in Aspen, but I'm hopeful," Vonn says.

The Aspen Winternational begins Saturday with a giant slalom, followed by a slalom on Sunday.

Also suffering from illness woes is American alpine racer Caroline Lalive, who remains hospitalized after undergoing an appendectomy Nov. 20. According to Hunt, it is unlikely that she will be ready to race in the Lake Louise, World Cup downhill in early December. This setback hit Lalive hard, as she was working toward returning to the sport after a two-year hiatus due to injury.