Aspen, CO – American ski racer Lindsey Vonn has told the Associated Press that she’s “100 percent” recovered from an ankle fracture sustained while training in New Zealand this summer, and will join the women’s World Cup at its Thanksgiving stop in Aspen.
Vonn had traveled to Soelden, Austria for the season opening giant slalom last month but opted not to start. There had been widespread speculation that she would wait for the downhill and super G in Lake Louise in early December, as speed events are her forté.
Instead, she’ll race giant slalom in Aspen on November 28th and slalom on the 29th. Following a travel day, downhill training starts in Lake Louise immediately thereafter on December 1st.
While Vonn searches for an early season training venue, she’ll skip the slalom scheduled in Levi, Finland, on November 14th, a discipline in which she no longer competes. There’s still no word about a return date from teammate Julia Mancuso, who continues recovering from a hip injury that abbreviated her 2014-15 World Cup season.
If Vonn can regain her form, she could be a real contender for the women’s overall World Cup title this season, especially as the past two seasons’ top two finishers — Austria’s Anna Fenninger and Tina Maze of Slovenia — are both out for the season. Fenninger is recovering from knee surgery, and Maze is voluntarily sitting out 2015-16 to concentrate on her studies.