re: Lindsey Vonn injures knee; Olympic outlook uncertain

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A lot of elite, good-lucking athletes in niche sports in the Olympics.

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OK, well then the difference is she's not "niche". She stars in one of the most prominent winter sports there is.

And now that she's old, the story is obviously even that much more compelling.

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Downhill has the be up there as one the most dangerous sports out there. Feel like these people are in a constant state of very seriously injured.

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I saw an article a few years ago that said the serious injury rate in World Cup downhillers was roughly the same as NFL players.

and IIRC, it was over 100% per year for both -- meaning that a significant number of people got injured more than once in any given year.

ETA: One of the references here might be the source of my fallible memory: Difference in Injury Risk between Male and Female Alpine Skiers: Review of the Literature

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The overall rate of injury in alpine skiing is high for many types of injuries. One study, following elite competitive alpine skiers, found the rate of injury to be as high as 184.1 injuries per 100 athletes per season with 75% of athletes suffering a traumatic injury, and 52.3% suffering an overuse injury [14].

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14. Fröhlich S, Helbling M, Fucentese SF, Karlen W, Frey WO, Spörri J. Injury risks among elite competitive alpine skiers are underestimated if not registered prospectively, over the entire season and regardless of whether requiring medical attention. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc. 2021 May;29(5):1635-1643. doi: 10.1007/s00167-020-06110-5. Epub 2020 Jun 16. PMID: 32556431.

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Vonn's crash was an absolutely textbook example of an ACL-blowing event, and I'd guess the injury had nothing to do with the netting; when she landed she went down on her tails at speed, and off balance, and that's all it takes.

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I just don’t understand why she was putting herself at risk a week before the Olympics.

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Because she is a World Cup racer, and she was in a World Cup race.

The Olympics are a big deal to the World Cuppers, but it isn't the only deal - they have their own season, with a lot of money at stake. And Vonn has demonstrated forever that she is driven by competitiveness.

She won't catch Shiffrin's record, but she does still have a chance to beat the men's record of World Cup wins. When she retired (due solely to a bajillion serious injuries) she had the record for number of World Cup wins by a woman; Shiffrin blew past that, past the men's record, and is still curbstomping everyone.

Vonn came out of retirement when she found a surgeon who built her a working knee; she never wanted to retire with a record in sight but physically couldn't take the forces involved until she found this guy. I'd bet she keeps racing until her legs literally explode and fall off.

And I wouldn't bet against seeing her on a podium in these Games.

How is this possible

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