Svindal hospitalized after training run crash

BEAVER CREEK, Colorado — Reigning overall champion Aksel Lund Svindal was taken to a hospital after crashing during official World Cup downhill training on Tuesday.   
    Svindal apparently lost control coming out of a severe compression following the Golden Eagle Jump on the lower section of the course. The Norwegian was taken off course on a sled before being transported to the Vail Valley Medical Center. He had cuts and bruises to his face and a 6-inch laceration on the back of his left leg. No ligament damage or broken bones were suspected, but he was undergoing surgery late Tuesday because doctors are worried about the depth of the laceration.   

BEAVER CREEK, Colorado — Reigning overall champion Aksel Lund Svindal was taken to a hospital after crashing during official World Cup downhill training on Tuesday.   
    Svindal, the 14th skier out of the start hut, apparently lost control coming out of a severe compression following the famous Golden Eagle Jump on the lower section of the course.   
    The Norwegian was taken off course on a sled before being transported to the Vail Valley Medical Center. He had cuts and bruises to his face and a 6-inch laceration on the back of his left leg. No ligament damage or broken bones were suspected, but he was undergoing surgery late Tuesday because doctors are worried about the depth of the laceration.    
    The training run was not televised and few people witnessed the accident.
    Svindal won a super-G in Lake Louise, Canada, on Sunday to reclaim the lead in the season overall standings.   
    Switzerland's Didier Cuche, who has been the fastest in training so far, said the compression on the Birds of Prey course was particularly tricky this year at Beaver Creek.
    ''The Golden Eagle and the finish jump are OK because we know them. They always jump far and fast,'' Cuche said. ''The big problem I see is after the Golden Eagle, the compression. It's really short and pushing you down really hard. You have some bumps in the compression and five meters after that you jump out the compression and that could be really dangerous. If you make an edge mistake there, you're going to fly but not in the right way.''   
    Svindal was 17th in the season's only other downhill, at Lake Louise on Saturday. He won the season-opening giant slalom at Soelden, Austria.
    Scarce snow forced race organizers to artificially produce a lot of the snow covering the Birds of Prey course. The layer covering the course is relatively thin, meaning the terrain is particularly bumpy and rolling.

    — The Associated Press