Skier Lindsey Vonn Released From Hospital After Crash at World Championships

U.S. ski team says Vonn tore ligaments in right knee and will be out for rest of season.

American skier Lindsey Vonn was released from an Austrian hospital Tuesday after being treated for a knee injury suffered during the world championships in Schladming.

The four-time overall World Cup champion lost balance on her right leg while landing after a jump Tuesday during the super-G. Her ski came off immediately, and Vonn slid off course and hit a gate before coming to a halt. Check out footage of the crash here.

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Vonn received medical treatment on the slope for 12 minutes before being airlifted to the hospital.

“Right knee/ankle bent awkwardly. Looked scary,” tweeted NBC Olympics researcher Alex Goldberger.

She suffered a torn ACL and MCL in her right knee and a lateral tibial plateau fracture, U.S. Ski Team Medical Director Kyle Wilkens told NBC Sports. Vonn will be out for the remainder of this season, but she is expected to return to racing for the 2013-14 Audi FIS World Cup season.

The hospital released a statement Tuesday indicating that Vonn and her team would have to decide what sort of therapy to pursue following her discharge.

Vonn is also expected to compete at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, which will begin exactly one year from Wednesday.

Vonn returned to the circuit last month after an almost monthlong break from racing to fully recover from an intestinal illness that put her in a hospital for two days in November.

She is the second most winning woman in World Cup history, just three races shy of the record. Vonn is also a two-time world champion gold medalist and notched a gold in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver,  NBC Sports reported.

Vonn trailed race winner Tina Maze of Slovenia by 0.12 seconds shortly before Tuesday's crash.

The race, which was postponed for 3½ hours because of fog, resumed after another 15-minute delay. Several racers struggled with the conditions.

"It's not a very difficult course, but in some parts you couldn't see anything," Fabienne Suter of Switzerland said.

Vonn is building a long list of medical mishaps. Two years ago, she pulled out midway through the last worlds in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, because of a mild concussion. At the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, Vonn skied despite a severely bruised shin to win the downhill and take bronze in the super-G.

At the 2009 worlds in Val d'Isere, France, she sliced her thumb on a champagne bottle after sweeping gold in the downhill and super-G, forcing her out of the giant slalom. At the 2007 worlds in Are, Sweden, Vonn injured her knee in training and missed her final two events.

And at the 2006 Turin Olympics, she had a horrific crash during downhill training and went directly from her hospital room to the mountain to compete in four of her five events.

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