Lindsey Vonn Gives First Interview Since Ski Injury, Promises She'll Be Ready for Sochi Olympics

Ski champ says she has every intention of getting back out on the mountain and resuming her training for next year's Olympics

By Josh Grossberg Feb 25, 2013 3:55 PMTags
Awesome Olympians, Lindsey VonnClive Mason/Getty Images

No doubt about it:  We haven't seen the last of Lindsey Vonn.

In her first interview since suffering a torn ACL and MCL in her right knee and a bone fracture after a scary crash at the Alpine World Championships in Schladming, Austria, the Olympic gold medalist is vowing she will be fit enough to compete at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, next February.

"Right now my goal is to be back for the 2014 in Sochi," the 28-year-old Vonn told Today. "Honestly, in a worst-case scenario, if I trained a week before the Games, I'd be fine."

The most decorated skier in American history also described the nasty tumble she took on the slopes that prompted her to be air-lifted to a local hospital.

"I just went off the jump, flew too far, and landed in a pile of snow that hadn't been cleared away," she said. "It essentially stopped my feet on impact, and my knee just completely buckled."

Vonn added that while the pain was intense, by the time she got to the hospital she knew pretty quickly what was wrong and that the injury wouldn't be a career-killer.

Lindsey, who's is currently on crutches and spends one to two hours a day rehabbing her knee, also talked about her battles with depression and her divorce from her husband and coach Thomas Vonn. But she declined to comment when Today cohost Matt Lauer asked her whether she was dating golfer Tiger Woods.

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