Over the next 11 days leading up to Vonn’s attempt at defending her downhill world title, the
26-year-old’s regular training and competition schedule was out the window and last-minute
calls and doctors’ orders became the guide as the “playing by it by ear” began.
The Championships opened with a super G on a course Vonn told media was too icy and dan-
gerous for women. She finished seventh and admitted to feeling “cloudy” during the race.
“My head just isn’t thinking fast enough,” she said at the finish. “I can’t process information
fast enough and that’s why I’m behind the course. All the bumps are throwing me around and
it’s because my body is one gate ahead of where my mind is and it’s not a good way to ski.”
Vonn’s husband and coach, Thomas, said after the su-
per G that they would have pulled the plug if it wasn’t
the World Championships and she wasn’t the defending
champ. “In hindsight it was probably stupid that she even
raced,” he said, “and that’s obviously on us.”
After pulling out of the first downhill training run the next
day, moseying down the second in loose-fitting freeskiing
clothes and then going 90 percent in the downhill portion
of the combined, Vonn went for it on competition day and
earned the downhill silver. She said it felt like gold.
Things went from sweet to bitter fairly quickly in the wake
of Vonn’s triumph. After the downhill, New York Times
sports writer Alan Schwarz wrote a piece that criticized
the U.S. Ski Team’s medical staff and protocols. “She and the United States Ski Team ap-
peared to hit the trifecta of concussion no-no’s: they called the injury mild, blindly followed so-
called concussion tests, then discounted clear signs that her injury remained,” wrote Schwarz.
“Despite repeated evidence that she had not recovered from a concussion, she attacked her
condition as much as the course.”
The next day, Vonn announced that she would be pulling out of the remaining three events on
the World Championships schedule and started a “media blackout” that also left her 250,000-
plus Facebook fans, accustomed to daily updates, in the dark.
Vonn’s teammate Stacey Cook, who has suffered three concussions (1999, 2005, 2010),
said she understood her teammate’s dilemma. “They both resulted in amnesia for well over
a day,” said Cook of her first two concussions. “When I got my concussion at the Olympics,
my amnesia only lasted for five or six hours so I knew that it wasn’t as bad. At the Olympics,
for me, it was so special. That was the battle of that series, that I could overcome it and keep
the focus. I had a target and I wanted to get back. With head injuries you never want to push
the limits but I had the clearances I needed and I felt good and ready to go and I was able to
charge. But, you can’t compare head injuries.”
Three-time World Cup podium finisher Cary Mullen knows a thing or two about skiing with
concussions. In 2000 the Canadian two-time Olympian was forced to retire after a string of
three concussions. “With my first concussion I had symptoms for eight and a half months,”
said Mullen. “Then I was symptom-free. I should have gone eight more months risk free or
low risk. I didn’t want to do that and miss another season and I didn’t believe the doctors so I
went back.”
Mullen returned to racing after his first concussion in the Beaver Creek downhill in 1997 that
left him with double vision and headaches. ”So I should have been out for 17 months in total,”
he said. “I went back too soon and it ended my career entirely. Patience would have been better.”
Lindsey Vonn’s husband, Thomas, said
after the super G at Garmisch that they
would have pulled the plug if it wasn’t the
World Championships and she wasn’t the
defending champ. “In hindsight it was
Mullen, now fully recovered from his concussions, works
as a resort developer in Puerto Escondido, Mexico. But
he also has studied concussion research extensively. As
a motivational speaker, he advocates concussion safety
whenever possible, especially in the sport he loves.
probably stupid that she even raced,” he
said, “and that’s obviously on us.”
“If you get a concussion you are more apt to get another
one easier, with more drastic symptoms and it will take
you longer to recover from,” says Mullen of the risk Vonn
took returning to the slopes. “With my third concussion, I
was going [just] 10 kilometers an hour with a helmet on
and I got knocked out, and it took me two years to become
symptom-free. I could have had that crash and thought nothing of it prior to any concussions
but my vulnerability had increased substantially, not just a little, substantially.”
Mullen (also a former rugby player) added that according to his research, from the time one
is symptom-free, it will take 10 years until one can take a hit as hard as prior to any concussions. “I was two years with symptoms after my last concussion and it has been 11 years of
no symptoms but I know I still can’t take as hard of a hit. I always wanted to go back and play
rugby but my body knows I can’t yet. I’m probably about three years away still, if ever, from
paying rugby again.”
At the medal-winners’ press conference, Vonn stood by her and her doctors’ decisions.
“I think that considering everything, I’ve been able to manage it pretty well, I’ve taken it
day-by-day and step-by-step and while people may not agree with what I’ve done, I’ve done
what’s right for me,” said Vonn. “I think that today shows that the direction that I went and the
way that I went was right. I’ve learned a lot about head injures; I’ve never had one before so
I guess I wasn’t as educated as I maybe I should have been. I learned that if it doesn’t make
sense for my health and my future life that I shouldn’t risk it and say no.”
