Vancouver downhill gold medalist Lindsey Vonn was sitting tenth in Aspen after her first giant slalom run of the world cup season, but didn’t have anything left in the tank for her second trip down the mountain after spending two nights in a Vail, Colo. hospital with “severe intestinal pain” earlier this week. She finished a distant 21st.
“I didn’t have the energy I needed to really be competitive,” Vonn told the AP. “It’s been a real fight to even be able to race today. I didn’t have it. I’m a competitor. This isn’t exactly the kind of result I was hoping for. But I have to still keep things in perspective and realize that I was very sick just a few days ago. I’m just happy to be racing again.”
It was the first time Vonn had made it down the giant slalom course without stopping to rest. The four time world champ also earned her first point of the World Cup season Saturday, but will skip the slalom competition on Sunday to conserve her energy and fully recover.
“Eventually, on a course like this, it’s all going to catch up with you,” added Vonn. “Your whole body is going to shut down at some point. I just have to stay positive and keep building.”
Instead Slovenian Tina Maze, who won the giant slalom season opener in Austria last month, took home her second world title of the year Saturday, clocking a two-run time of 1:59.39 to hold off Austria’s Kathrin Zettel and Germany’s Viktoria Rebensburg for the victory.
