Lindsey Vonn was unable to test her injured shin Thursday as fog took over the Olympic ski slopes in Whistler.
The American alpine skier was scheduled for a downhill training run, but bad weather forced its cancellation.
Vonn, who had been favoured to win multiple medals at the Olympic Games, announced on Wednesday she is suffering from a right shin injury sustained during a slalom training run in Austria last week.
“I got twisted funny and went over the front of my skis,” Vonn told reporters at a press conference in Vancouver. “I hyper-extended my leg and all of the force went onto my shin.
“Thankfully it wasn’t bone, it’s only muscle, but it happens to be exactly where my boot hits my leg. It’s probably the worst place you can have an injury, because you’re constantly pushing against the boot and there’s no way around it.”
NBC’s The Today Show broke the news of Vonn’s injury early Wednesday morning. In an interview with Matt Lauer she said her right shin is deeply bruised.
Thursday’s practice run would have been an opportunity to test the pain, but instead she had another day off to rest the injury.
Vonn, who appears on the cover of the Olympic preview issue of Sports Illustrated, above, has had bad luck with injuries throughout her career.
At the 2006 Olympic Games in Turin, she was airlifted to the hospital after a serious crash during a training run. She returned to race in the downhill later that week and finishing eighth.
Earlier this season she bruised her arm during a race, but came back to compete the next day.
Vonn says this injury will be the toughest to pull through however.
“I have had a lot of injuries,” she said. “But I have always felt like I could push through them pretty well. This is definitely the most painful injury I’ve ever had.”
Vonn has been the most dominant figure in women’s alpine skiing this season, winning five downhill events in a row. She also won her final race before the Olympics, the super-G at a World Cup event in St. Moritz on Jan. 31.
The American star competes in all five alpine ski disciplines, but it remains to be seen if she will be able to participate in each event in Whistler. The first event, super combined, occurs on Feb. 14, but Vonn’s strongest disciplines, downhill and super-G, don’t run until Feb. 17 and Feb. 20.