. world ski news : Lindsey Vonn stays out of Soelden - 23 October 2013 - 19:02
USA's Lindsey Vonn decided today to skip the Opening World Cup race at Soelden this weekend to focus on her comeback in a month at Beaver Creek, Colorado, where the the World Cup tour will resume after the first technical races in Austria this weekend and then in Levi, Finland, where a couple of slaloms are scheduled in three weeks.
"My training camp in Soelden went very well and I made great progress, but I feel that I need more training before I start racing again...which means the Soelden race is not in the cards this year," Vonn posted on her Facebook page this morning.
"Patience is not my strong suit so not racing is very hard for me but it will only make me more excited for the next one. I will go home to Vail and continue my preparation for the Beacer Creek races and my ultimate goal in February! Thanks for the support everyone," also added the 29-year-old American, a winner here two years ago.
The four-time Overall World Cup champion, who suffered a major knee injury last February during a crash in the Super-G race at the 2013 FIS World Championships at Schladming, returned on snow last summer at Portillo, Chile, and made very quick progresses afterwards. She was often seen on the PGA tour this summer along her boy-friend Tiger Woods who she is apparently dating for nearly a year now.
Vonn has been intensively training on snow in the past week at Soelden and was even considering competing in the giant slalom race hold on the treacherous Rettenbacher glacier situated above the Tyrolian resort. Yet two days before the closing of the entry list, the racer from Vail decided to wait another month before racing again on the circuit.
Her primary goal in this comeback season is to recover most of her potential in time for the Winter Olympics at Sochi, in Russia. She is the defending Olympic champion in downhill.
A.I.J.S. Ski Press News Center
October 23, 2013