17 February 2010

Lindsey Vonn today defied fears over an injury to her shin – not to mention the (mythical) so-called curse of Sports Illustrated cover stars* – to become the first American woman to win downhill skiing gold at the Olympic Games. The 25-year-old pre-event favourite from Minnesota produced a fearless run in Whistler to clock 1min 44.19sec to take gold ahead of her compatriot Julia Mancuso. Elisabeth Georgl of Austria won the bronze on a day of thrills and spills on the mountain.

Further details about the triumph, which justified the pre-Games hype that set up Vonn as the Vancouver Olympics’ golden girl in waiting, can be found, among other places, at the New York Times, in The Times and at USA Today‘s website.

Vonn was a recent Sports Illustrated cover star and was among a number of leading ladies of sport to be featured in the latest swimsuit edition.

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* More here on that supposed curse