By Julien Pretot
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 8 (Reuters) – A roar ran through the crowd as Lindsey Vonn flashed on to the giant screen, head bowed, poles poised, every movement charged with intent at the Winter Olympics on Sunday.
In less than 20 seconds the momentum shattered — her right arm caught a gate, she lost her balance and she crashed hard on to the snow.
The American’s cry of pain rang down the mountainside and the grandstand’s celebration collapsed into a single, stunned breath. What had begun in bright cheers for the Italian Alpine skiers and for Vonn dissolved, in an instant, into a deep silence over the finish area.
The U.S. team at the Milano Cortina Games had not anticipated such a drama unfolding when they got up on Sunday morning, with the 41-year-old Vonn heading back to the start hut despite injuring her knee in a crash just nine days ago.
“We were all very excited. There was a sense of calm, of course some nerves, but everyone felt ready and really wanted it today,” teammate Bella Wright said.
“Jackie (Jacqueline Wiles) and I were at the top, so we saw it happen live. You never want that for anyone — and especially not for your teammate, for Lindsey. She deserved a better ending than that. I’m heartbroken for her. But if anyone can come back from something like this, it’s Lindsey. She’s incredibly strong, and we’ll support her in every way we can.”
Breezy Johnson had already charged down the Olimpia delle Tofane course to seize her first Olympic title before Vonn was airlifted to a hospital in Cortina, the crowd rising in applause as the helicopter whirred across the bright sky above the stands.
“It’s a tough road, it’s a tough sport. She keeps getting injured so badly but she keeps coming back for more,” said Johnson, the second American woman to win Olympic downhill gold, after Vonn in 2010.
Vonn had started with bib 13. Italy’s Sofia Goggia, who would go on to take bronze with bib 15, was near the start when the crash happened.
“I heard someone scream,” she said.
That cry altered the mood of an otherwise sunlit day. Cheers returned for Goggia’s run but the earlier joy had long since given way to a hush edged with concern.
Vonn, however, kept her eyes on the race outcome as she was airlifted away.
“Her coach told me she was cheering for me from the helicopter,” said Johnson.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; editing by Clare Fallon)
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