TORINO: Alpine: Kildow OK after crash, but DH start in doubt

TORINO: Alpine: Kildow OK after crash, but DH start in doubt{mosimage}SAN SICARIO, Italy – The women’s Olympic downhill course, which was ridiculed last year for being too easy, took its toll in the second day of downhill training, claiming American medal hopeful Lindsey Kildow, defending Olympic downhill champion Carole Montillet-Carles from France and Canadian giant slalom ace Allison Forsyth.

Kildow’s crash was the nastiest of the day, and she was evacuated via helicopter to a Torino hospital. Doctors said her injuries apparently were not as severe as first feared.

Kildow caught an edge upon landing off a jump with her leg fully extended to the side. The force of the compression carried her into the air for about 15 feet, spun her around 180 degrees and then slammed her body to the snow, where she bounced and tumbled before sliding inert to a halt.

Dr. Bill Sterett, an orthopedic surgeon on the staff of the Vail (Colorado) Valley Medical Center and a knee and shoulder specialist with the U.S. women’s alpine team, said Kildow sustained a severe hip contusion or pelvic contusions. She has been admitted to a Torino hopital for observation overnight, but her CAT scans and X-rays are “normal.”

“At this point there doesn’t appear to be any other injuries,” said Sterett, who’s been one of Kildow’s doctors for a decade. “She’s pretty banged up and she’s pretty sore, but she’s in good spirits and doing pretty well.”

Sterett said he couldn’t comment on whether Kildow would be able to race in Wednesday’s downhill.

“Right now she hasn’t ruled out the possibility of racing as early as Wednesday,” he said. She’s not given up her spot at this point. … It’s encouraging that her CAT scan and X-rays are normal.”

Sterett said in his experience with Kildow, if she can race, she will.

“She’s a pretty tough young lady. Almost nothing surprises me about her,” he said. “Until we tell her she absolutely can’t race, she’s not going to rule it out.”

The news on Forsyth was not as good. The Canadian press conveyed that she suffered a torn left ACL, which will put her out of action for the remainder of the season.

Swiss racer Martina Schild, running from the 28th position, stunned the favorites by clocking the fastest time of the session. Her fastest time of 1 minute, 55.52 seconds earned her a berth on the Swiss team for Wednesday’s race.

Better-known Austrian contenders Renate Goetschl and Alexandra Meissnitzer took second and third.

Running No. 7, Montillet-Carles caught an edge near the top of the course, which caused her knee to buckle at an awkward angle. She slid through several fences before coming to a stop in obvious pain. She took a toboggan to the bottom, where a helicopter took her to a Torino hospital.

Two racers later, Austrian Elisabeth Goergl also caught an edge and tumbled through several layers of netting, but she popped up to her feet signalling that she was unhurt.

Undeterred by running immediately after Kildow’s crash, Julia Mancuso cruised into fourth. Kildow was on course with bib No. 16, but the giant TV screen was showing other scenes at the finish. The scoreboard showed Kildow’s early split times but the intervals ominously stopped appearing. The TV screen then flashed to an image of Kildow lying motionless on her back with her legs splayed. After a few moments, the TV screen replayed the sickening crash.

Goetschl visibly cringed when she saw Kildow’s crash on TV. ‘It looked really bad’ said Goetschl. ‘I hope for her the best, but it looked not so good.’

Goetschl was all too familiar with what happened to Kildow. ‘She seemed to have pressure on her ski, but it slipped away. You cannot do anything, it happens so fast. I know that when I had a big crash in Lenzerheide – you can’t do anything in this situation.’

The toughest part for athletes, however, is to put such images out of their minds. ‘You have to put these things out of your mind,” Goetschl said. “You cannot think about it; you have to think about your own way. If you have such a crash in your mind, you cannot go. I’m really sorry for Lindsey.’

Mancuso said she has trained herself to suppress negative images, and it’s a good thing because Mancuso was in the starting gate when a course hold indicated that Kildow was down. ‘I knew there was a crash because I was in the gate with three seconds to go and they pulled me back’ said Mancuso. ‘I just didn’t know how bad it was. The course ran fine. It wasn’t fast and jumps are pretty big, but everything else is fine. It’s just really rolly, so it’s easy to catch edges.’

Kirsten Clark also is enjoying the course as she works her way up to full speed for Wednesday’s race. Clark finished 12th in Monday’s run. ‘They moved a lot of dirt this summer and now it’s one of the more technical courses we’ll run’ said Clark. ‘Things are coming at you from start to finish, so it’s a lot of fun.

As for who the course might favor, Clark said, ‘I think it favors the technical skiers; there’s not a whole lot of gliding out there, but it’s the Olympics and anything can happen.’