SCHLADMING, Austria — American skier Lindsey Vonn plans to compete in the Sochi Winter Olympics despite tearing two ligaments in her right knee and breaking a bone in her lower leg in a crash at the world championships. “I am grateful to my fans for the outpouring of support, which has really helped me stay positive,” Vonn said in a statement Wednesday, a day after her crash in Schladming. “I can assure you that I will work as hard as humanly possible to be ready to represent my country next year in Sochi.” The Olympic downhill champion will undergo surgery at home next week. Because of intense media attention, neither she nor the US Ski Team would say when she's leaving Austria. “She'll be heading back to Vail (Colorado) and I will be doing surgery on her knee early next week,” team physician William Sterett told The Associated Press Wednesday. Vonn was released from the local hospital late Tuesday and returned to the team hotel. “Lindsey is doing well,” said Sterett, who has been treating Vonn since she was a child. “She's in good spirits.” Vonn tore her anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament in her right knee. The broken bone was described as a lateral tibial plateau fracture. “The fracture is called an impaction fracture,” Sterett said. “It should not require any surgery. It just needs to be non-weight on crutches.” — AP
