Vonn will start her Olympics with Thursday's opening of super combined downhill training, but a shin injury she suffered a week ago while training in Austria is still causing the two-time World Champion some pain.

"Today was definitely out of the ordinary," said Vonn, who was greeted by fanfare and cameras. "There were a lot of people there and I wasn't really expecting it. It was really cool. Coming here today and seeing the reception was a wakeup call to the reality that people are watching and expecting me to win. All I can say is that I'm prepared and I hope things go well."

But Vonn's arrival was not without some apprehension. While training slalom a week ago, just two days after locking up the World Cup super G title with a victory in St. Moritz, Switzerland, she crashed on her first run of slalom training. Vonn suffered a contusion to the muscles in her right shin. She's been staying out of her ski boots since then to help the healing.

"I for sure will be racing, I'm going to push through it," Vonn told Matt Lauer of NBC's TODAY Show. "This winter I've already had an arm injury, but this is a part of my leg. It feels more like the 2006 Torino Olympics. I've fought through injuries before - I'm no stranger to that. But it's going to be really hard. I just have to try to stay positive and do the best I can."

Women's alpine medal competition opens on Valentine's Day with super combined. This Thursday, however, marks the first of three official downhill training runs prior to the event.

"I have to wait until the first training run on Thursday and go up there, put my skis on and see how it feels," said Vonn. "I'm thinking about how I can manage it so I can race well in all my disciplines. I don't know if that means sitting out a training run to get some extra rest. I'll have to keep doing therapy and play it by ear. All I can say is that I will do my best."

Thursday's training run is set for 9:30 a.m. local time at Whistler Creekside. The last time on the Whistler Creekside course in February, 2008, she finished second to wrap-up her first Audi FIS World Cup downhill title.

www.ussa.org
Wednesday ,10 February 2010

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