Lindsey Vonn suffered a serious knee injury after an accident in the Super G on Tuesday, at the first day of the World Championships in Schladming in Austria.

The four-time overall World Cup winner and 2010 Olympic downhill champion received medical treatment on the slope for 12 minutes before being air-lifted off the mountain by helicopter to  hospital.

The race had already been delayed over three hours due to poor light conditions.  Vonn  suffered a torn MCL and ACl and also broke a bone in her leg (a lateral tibial plateau fracture). 

Since the crash, the US Ski and Snowboard Association have issued the following statement: “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 Super G was won by Slovenian skier, Tina Maze, with Swiss Lara Gut in second place, and US Julia Mancuso in third.  Britain’s Chemmy Alcott came 24^th – a decent result given that she has only just returned to competitive racing after a serious ski accident herself.

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