Vonn skis out, Schmidhofer wins super-G at ski worlds
ST. MORITZ, Switzerland — In a surprising start to the world ski championships, Lindsey Vonn failed to finish the super-G on Tuesday and Nicole Schmidhofer won a race for the first time.
Vonn arrived in St. Moritz with a women’s record 77 career wins in World Cup races. The 27-year-old Schmidhofer had zero.
Still, Vonn struggled to grip her right ski pole — a lingering problem since breaking her right upper arm in November — and seemed uneasy before taking a too-straight line and went off the course midway down.
“I feel like (my hand) is strong enough, then I’m in the course and I don’t know where my pole is,” said Vonn, who last won a gold medal at the world championships in 2009.