Going Going Vonn! Crash injuries end Lindsey Vonn’s season, but not her hopes!

One year and two days before the women's downhill at the Sochi Olympics in Russia, American Olympic champion Lindsey Vonn, whose record breaking ski-racing career has frequently mixed stirring triumph with frightening spills, suffered debilitating injuries to her right leg in a violent crash during a race at the World Championships in Schladming, Austria yesterday  —  putting her out for the rest of this World Cup season and potentially complicating the defence of her Olympic title.

Lindsay Vonn is hospitalized after this fall in a super-G race in Schladming, Austria on Tuesday

The United States Ski and Snowboard Association announced on Tuesday that Vonn suffered two torn ligaments in her right knee — the medial collateral and anterior cruciate ligaments — as well as a fractured lateral tibial plateau in the same knee after crashing in the super-G in Schladming.

Vonn, the Minnesota-born skier took a month off this season after being hospitalised for an intestinal illness in November, and had just regained her form with two wins last month.

Tuesday's race, the first of the World Championships, was delayed nearly four hours because of fog. There were more than ten separate delays as officials struggled to get the race in with daylight fading. Vonn led Slovenia's Tina Maze, the best female skier during this World Cup season after the first stage of the race.

Vonn who was the 19th racer out of the starting gate for the second stage, skied well at the top of the course. She led Maze by 0.04 seconds at the first checkpoint, and was just 0.12 seconds back at the second interval, and seemingly on her way to a medal, if not victory!

About 42 seconds into her run, as Vonn made a right-footed turn and arced her skis to the left, she navigated a jump at the same time. Vonn soared above the snow a little off balance with her hands behind her torso rather than in front of her chest, which usually ensures a more stable landing.

Returning to the snow, her right leg splayed briefly to the right and her knee hyper-extended inward and toward the left. She pitched forward at the same time and began to flip forward. Her right ski came off, cartwheeling down the slope after her. Vonn came to a stop a few hundred feet down the slope without making contact with the protective fencing, though she did plough through a gate. She was attended by medical personnel for 12 minutes on the side of the trail and airlifted to a hospital.

Christian Kaulfersch, the assistant medical director at the worlds, said Vonn left the Schladming hospital on Tuesday afternoon and will have surgery in another hospital. "She first wanted to go back to the team hotel to mentally deal with all what has happened."

The Olympic downhill champion will have surgery next week in Vail, Colorado. Due to intense media attention, neither she nor the U.S 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 today.

Maze won the race, with Switzerland’s Lara Gut taking silver and American Julia Mancuso, Vonn’s longtime rival, winning bronze.

Vonn has enjoyed a significant amount of media attention for an alpine skier, making her the face of her sport. She has appeared on The Today Show, Access Hollywood, and The Late Show with David Letterman and has picked up endorsements from notable companies such as Head, Oakley, Red Bull, Rolex, and Under Armour.

Vonn appeared in Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Edition that featured Winter Olympians in 2010. Her assets were estimated to be worth over 2.5 million dollars back in 2010.

Olympic skier Lindsay Vonn on the set of her Sports Illustrated swimsuit shoot back in 2010 

Vonn's list of injuries at major championships is long:

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, 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.

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

Lindsey Vonn faces yet another enforced break from her sport, but this one occurs with only a year to go before the Sochi Olympics.

Lindsey Vonn is on pace to become the most accomplished female skier ever. Her career resume is as follows:

• 1984: Born: St. Paul, Minnesota, United States
• 2000: World Cup debut aged 16 in Park City, Utah
• 2002: Competes at Winter Olympics in Utah aged 17 in downhill and combined
• 2004: Claims first World Cup race win at Lake Louise in Canada
• 2008: Wins first World Cup title to become only the second American woman to lift the trophy
• 2009: Wins World Championships in Val-d'Isère, France, and becomes first American to win women's world super-G title
• 2010: Wins gold in the downhill and bronze in super-G at the Vancouver Olympics
• 2012: Regains World Cup overall title

                      4 Overall World Cup titles

                    16 World Cup discipline titles, tied 1st all-time 

                    59 World Cup victories, the 2nd most all-time (3 shy of record).

Babe of the Month - There's Always Hope!

American beauty Hope Solo on hand to warm you up on a cold winter's night!

Babe of the Month - Keri-Anne Payne, British Olympian

Keri-Anne Payne was born in Johannesburg, South Africa to British parents. She started swimming aged four, and was noticed aged eight by British Swimming's national performance director Bill Sweetenham at a training camp in South Africa. As a result, the family returned to the UK to live in Heywood, Greater Manchester, when she was 13 years-old.

Keri-Ann will be going for gold at the London Olympics #focused

Keri-Anne broke through into senior swimming just two days after her 17th birthday when she won 400m Freestyle gold at the European Short Course Championships in Vienna - her first senior international meet.

After finishing fourth and sixth in the 800m Freestyle and 400m Individual Medley events respectively at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Payne turned her attention to open water events.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Keri-Ann won the silver medal in the inaugural 10km marathon swim. As one of the most memorable events of the Beijing Olympics, the marathon swim led to an explosion of public interest and participation in open water swimming events in the UK and worldwide. She also swam for Team GB in the 200m and 400m individual medley events.

Keri-Anne's stature in this exciting new sport of open water swimming heightened when she was crowned world champion at the 2009 World Championships in Rome.

Keri-Anne, British Swimmer & the face of Max Factor

Payne continues to combine open water and pool swimming and captured her first senior long course medal in the pool at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, claiming bronze in the 400m Individual Medley.

In 2011 in Shanghai, Payne reclaimed the World Championship in the 10 km Open Water event, becoming in the process the first British athlete in any sport to confirm qualification for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. 

Keri-Anne follows the Sale Sharks Rugby Team. Her favourite film is The Count of Monte Cristo and she is a fan of the band The Killers.

You can follow Keri-Anne at her official website

Babe of the Month - Queen of the Long Jump

Darya Igorevna Klishina was born 15th January 1991, in Tver, Russia. Having spent most of her childhood in Tver, a small town in Russia, Darya moved to Moscow to pursue athletics.

The 21 year old is known for her technical finesse in sprinting and jumping, which is remarkable given her tender years. She has become a popular figure for her ability to balance her carrier with the media attention she attracts owing to her good looks.

Darya achieved star status when, in June 2010, she leapt an incredible 7.03 meters in a long jump event in Zhukovskiy, Russia, setting a new Russian junior record. She has won gold in the European Junior Championship for long jump twice. The first was at the Novi Sad European Junior Championship in Serbia in July 2009, and the second was in Paris at the European Indoor Championships in March 2011.

Her long jump personal best stands at 7.05 metres, which she set in July 2011 in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

With the Olympics only months away, her focus is now firmly on London 2012. A fit Darya Klishina is within range to wrest the coveted gold medal from her rivals.

You can follow Darya on twitter and facebook

Babe Of The Month - Feeling Horny!

Sophie Horn is a 25 year-old English born rose who can boast an impressive Curriculum Vitae that includes all of the following: GOLFER - MODEL - TV PRESENTER - MAGAZINE COLUMNIST and PERSONAL TRAINER.

She was brought up in the Midlands, and has been playing golf since she can remember, having grown up on a golf course (her parents run the Eagles Golf Centre at Tilney All Saints). She was crowned Norfolk County Champion three years running. She won the Under-21 title when she was just 15 years old. She also won the Midlands Championship, and significantly became Champion of Champions in 2001.

In 2005 she became 'The Golf Nurse' for Golf Punk Magazine, contributing articles, advice, golfing tips as well as modeling clothing. She was involved with all aspects of promotional work for the brand.

Sophie moved in front of camera in 2008 to co-present 'Show Me The Golf' for Setanta, where her cocktail of style, bubbly personality and attractiveness, allied to her undoubted golfing ability made her an instant hit with viewers. She also presented 'The Golf Show Pilot' for Sky Sports Online.

Sophie is a qualified Personal Trainer (Premier Training Level 3) and was a finalist in the ‘Maximuscle Body of 2009′ competition. She has been featured in 'Sport Magazine' twice (August 2009 and April 2011) and then most notably was featured in Sports Illustrated (August 2010). After Sophies feature in SI she became the most searched name on Google for two days.

Last year, Sophie Horn really did reach the top of the world when both MTV.com and Sports Illustrated voted her The World's Sexiest Golfer.


Sophie was recently been appointed a 'De Vere Club Ambassador,' along with Freddie Flintoff and Harry Redknapp. Since becoming a De Vere Club Ambassador she’s been featured in a number of major golf magazines and on radio.

Shortly Sophie will be contributing a 'Fit for Golf' section on the 'Golfing World' television show – which is currently shown in 35 countries (including Sky Sports in UK), 14 airlines and has a worldwide household audience of 350 million.

You can follow Sophie on Facebook and Twitter

Kaylyn Kyle - Canadian Soccer Babe

Kaylyn Mackenzie Kyle was born on the 6th October 1988, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewanis. She is a Canadian International footballer who plays her club football with the Vancouver Whitecaps FC in the United Soccer Leagues (USL) W-League.

Kaylyn has represented Canada at U-17 and U-20 level and senior level.
In 2006 she participated in the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Russia. In 2008 she represented Canada at the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Chile.

Kaylyn won her first senior cap for the Canadian national team against the United States, at the 'Four Nations Tournament' in China on 16th January 2008, and was a member of the senior squad that won the 2010 CONCACAF Women's Championship beating the hosts 1-0 in the Final in the Estadio Andrés Quintana Roo, Cancún, Mexico.

The 23 year-old midfielder also represented Canada this summer at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany.

Kaylyn last competitive international match was in Canada's penalty shoot-out victory over Brazil in Guadalajara, Mexico on the 28th October 2011, as Canada claimed its first Pan American Games gold medal in women's soccer.

The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup will be the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, and in March 2011, Canada won the right to host the event.

Follow Kaylyn on Facebook and Twitter