Dr. Alexis Colvin talks about Lindsey Vonn’s injury

Olympic downhill champion Lindsey Vonn is expected to return for next year’s ski season and the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, after tearing two ligaments in her right knee and breaking her leg in a crash today at the world championships, her team doctor said.

U.S. Ski Team Medical Director Kyle Wilkens said Vonn tore the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligament in her right knee and has a lateral tibial plateau fracture, according to a statement on the U.S. Ski website. She fell during her run in the super-G race in Schladming, Austria.

“She will be out for the remainder of this season but is expected to return to racing for the 2013-14 Audi FIS World Cup season and the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi,” the ski team said in the statement.

The Sochi Winter Games start on Feb. 7, 2014.

Vonn likely will have surgery to repair just the ACL and may return to normal skiing activity in six months, according to Alexis Chiang Colvin, an orthopedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. Colvin said the ACL, the more serious of the two tears, is “critical” for any skier.

Read full article at Businesweek.com

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