Alpine skiing-Vonn flown to hospital after horror downhill crash

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 8 : U.S. ski great Lindsey Vonn was flown to hospital after her audacious bid to win Olympic downhill gold with a ruptured ACL ended in an horrific crash after 13 seconds on Sunday.

An informed source told Reuters a helicopter was taking the 41-year-old to hospital in Treviso after she was strapped into a medical stretcher and winched off the sunlit Olimpia delle Tofane piste.

Vonn, whose battle to reach the start line despite her knee injury dominated the opening days of the Milano Cortina Olympics, saw her unlikely quest halted in screaming agony on the snow.

Wearing bib number 13 and with a brace on the left knee she injured in a crash at Crans Montana on January 30, Vonn looked pumped up at the start gate.

She tapped her ski poles before setting off in typically aggressive fashion down one of her favourite pistes on a mountain that has rewarded her in the past.

The 2010 gold medallist, the second most successful female World Cup skier of all time with 84 wins, appeared to clip the fourth gate with her shoulder, losing control and being launched into the air.

She then barrelled off the course at high speed before coming to rest in a crumpled heap.

Vonn could be heard screaming on television coverage as fans and teammates gasped in horror before a shocked hush fell on the packed finish area.

She was quickly surrounded by several medics and officials before a yellow 'Falco 2' Alpine rescue helicopter arrived and winched her away on an orange stretcher.

The helicopter took Vonn initially to Cortina's Codivilla Putti Hospital for a medical assessment. As it flew overhead towards the town, spectators applauded.

"The medical team responded immediately and the intervention time was excellent," the