Lindsey Vonn skis for first time since February (video)

Lindsey Vonn
0 Comments

Lindsey Vonn is back skiing on snow, the latest step in her recovery from blowing out her right knee at the World Championships as she prepares for the World Cup season and the Sochi Olympics.

Vonn, 28, took two easy-paced runs with U.S. Ski Team coach Jeff Fergus at a resort in the Andes Mountains region of Chile on Sunday afternoon.

Vonn said she felt good afterward, that her right knee wasn’t swollen and didn’t hurt at all after doing “beginner drills.” She practiced turns, got into her tuck and glided while lifting one knee at a time.

“I’ve crashed a lot in my career, and I’m just getting back up as fast as I can,” Vonn said Sunday. “Unfortunately it’s taken me seven months to get back up this time, but I was really excited to get out there today. … It just feels like the right time, and my body feels ready.”

The 2010 Olympic downhill champion suffered a torn ACL, MCL and lateral tibial plateau fracture on Feb. 5, crashing in the World Championships super-G in Schladming, Austria (video here). She had surgery five days later.

She still has nearly three months before her first competition, time Vonn will need to steadily return to form.

“I can’t tell which knee is injured — that’s a good sign,” Vonn said. “I usually go from zero to a hundred. I’m not good in between so this is going to be a challenge. Another challenge, test of my patience.”

She plans on returning to competitive skiing in late November at a World Cup tour stop in Beaver Creek, Colo. The first women’s Alpine skiing event at the Sochi Olympics is the super combined Feb. 10, three days after the opening ceremony. She’s expected to attempt defense of her downhill gold medal Feb. 12.

Will Tiger Woods accompany Lindsey Vonn at Sochi Olympics?

Olympians, Paralympians star on Top Chef World All-Stars in Paris

0 Comments

U.S. Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls get a taste of Paris in this week’s episode of Top Chef World All-Stars, premiering Thursday at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.

Olympic medalists Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Suni Lee and Paralympic medalists Mallory Weggemann and Hunter Woodhall team up with contestants for a cooking challenge in front of the Eiffel Tower, one year before the French capital hosts the Games.

Olympians have appeared on Top Chef before.

A 2020 episode set at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Coliseum included Diana Taurasi, Rai Benjamin, Nastia Liukin, Ibtihaj Muhammad, Christian Coleman and Kerri Walsh Jennings.

A January 2018 episode featured figure skater Meryl Davis, freeskier Gus Kenworthy and skeleton slider John Daly, one month before the PyeongChang Winter Games.

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

2023 French Open women’s singles draw, scores

1 Comment

At the French Open, Iga Swiatek of Poland eyes a third title at Roland Garros and a fourth Grand Slam singles crown overall.

The tournament airs live on NBC Sports, Peacock and Tennis Channel through championship points in Paris.

Swiatek, the No. 1 seed from Poland, can join Serena Williams and Justine Henin as the lone women to win three or more French Opens since 2000.

Turning 22 during the tournament, she can become the youngest woman to win three French Opens since Monica Seles in 1992 and the youngest woman to win four Slams overall since Williams in 2002.

FRENCH OPEN: Broadcast Schedule | Men’s Draw

But Swiatek is not as dominant as in 2022, when she went 16-0 in the spring clay season during an overall 37-match win streak.

She retired from her most recent match with a right thigh injury last week and said it wasn’t serious. Before that, she lost the final of another clay-court tournament to Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus.

Sabalenka, the No. 2 seed, and Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, the No. 4 seed and Wimbledon champion, are the top challengers in Paris.

No. 3 Jessica Pegula and No. 6 Coco Gauff, runner-up to Swiatek last year, are the best hopes to become the first American to win a Grand Slam singles title since Sofia Kenin at the 2020 Australian Open. The 11-major drought is the longest for U.S. women since Seles won the 1996 Australian Open.

MORE: All you need to know for 2023 French Open

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

2023 French Open Women’s Singles Draw

French Open Women's Singles Draw French Open Women's Singles Draw French Open Women's Singles Draw French Open Women's Singles Draw