Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Olympics
Ryan Smart
An official update has been issued on the condition of Lindsey Vonn after the US skiing legend crashed out of the women's downhill final at the Winter Olympics.
Vonn crashed out of the women's downhill final in Cortina shortly before the first timing line.
The 2010 Olympic champion clipped one of the gates with her right ski pole, which caused her to twist off balance and hit the ground at high speed, landing on the back of her skis.
Vonn tumbled down the course and appeared to hit her head before she came to a halt.
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Medical staff immediately attended to the 41-year-old, before she was airlifted away from the course via medical helicopter.
Vonn had been looking to become the oldest skier, man or woman, to win an Olympic medal in alpine skiing.
Her dreams were dealt a significant blow just nine days before the downhill final, when she tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her left knee after crashing in a World Cup event in Crans-Montana.
But despite the severity of the injury, Vonn declared that she would compete at the Olympics, and completed two training runs to allow her to ski in the final.
The final itself ended in heartbreak for the US sporting legend, but the violent nature of the crash - coupled with her already torn ACL - meant attention immediately turned towards Vonn's condition.
After several hours of speculation, the US Ski and Snowboard Team have issued a statement to confirm that Vonn is in a 'stable condition' in hospital.
"Lindsey Vonn sustained an injury, but is in stable condition and in good hands with a team of American and Italian physicians," the statement reads.
Speaking on NBC, Vonn's sister Karin Kildow gave an update on the 41-year-old shortly after she was airlifted away from the course, admitting that her family had been given little information at that stage.
"It was scary because when you start to see the stretchers being put out, it's not a good sign but, we were just saying, she just dared greatly and she put it all out there, so it's really hard to see. But we just really hope she's okay.
"I don't really know what happens from her, obviously she was airlifted out, so I think we'll probably just wait.
"She does have all of her surgeons and her PT staff here and her doctors, so I'm sure they'll give us a report, and we'll meet her at whatever hospital she's at.
"I think she's being evaluated right now, is the only thing we've heard."
Sky Sports News reporter Geraint Thomas subsequently reported that Vonn had been transported to a facility in Cortina.
"From what I'm hearing, via colleagues at Team USA, Lindsey Vonn is in Cortina, and is being treated there," Thomas said.
"She is in hospital, being tended to by the medical teams there."
Thomas claims there were concerns that Vonn would have to be airlifted to a bigger facility near Verona.
"We don't want to read too much into it, but it is good news that she is still being treated in Cortina, rather than being airlifted to a bigger hospital further down the valley to a city like Verona, which is probably the closest city to Cortina," Thomas added.
"There were initial fears that it was really, really, really serious.
"But the fact that we haven't had a terrible amount of news coming out of Team USA, and the fact that her team-mate Breezy Johnson, who took the gold medal, seemed to be a bit more relaxed in her press conference ... she's a close colleague and friend of Lindsey Vonn. Maybe at the moment, things are a bit better than they were a couple of hours ago."