GS called off as Vonn exits
American Lindsey Vonn suffered a heavy fall during the first run of the ladies giant slalom at Whistler Creekside.
Last Updated: 25/02/10 7:57am
American Lindsey Vonn suffered a heavy fall during the first run of the women's giant slalom at Whistler Creekside.
Vonn, who won gold in the downhill and bronze in the Super-G, was the 17th starter in deteriorating conditions and her skis went from under her on the top section of the course.
The 25-year-old American landed on her shoulder and then skidded into the safety netting at the side of the course.
She was attended to by race officials and medical staff before eventually getting to her feet again.
Subsequent tests revealed the Olympics poster-girl had suffered a fractured little finger, but she will 'definitely' race the slalom scheduled for Friday.
American team-mate Julia Mancuso, a two-time silver medallist in Vancouver, was next to go and had started her run when officials flagged her to stop.
When she eventually got back underway the defending Olympic champion was only able to post the 18th quickest time, leaving her in tears and her chances of another medal in tatters.
The event will be decided on Thursday morning in Vancouver after the second run was called off due to the deteriorating conditions.
After repeated delays due to poor visibility, and skiers huddled for two hours at a lowered start point in the hope that conditions might improve, officials gave up on attempts to complete the race in one day.
"We were quite lucky and were able to do a good and fair first run and due to the weather change were not able to pull off a second run," said race director Atle Skaardal.
"The jury were unanimous in the decision and nobody felt it would be fair to cancel the first run."
Austrian Elisabeth Goergl holds a narrow lead over the rest of the field after the first run with Taina Barioz of France in a surprise second place just 0.02 seconds behind.
