LINDA WERTHEIMER, host:
Lindsey Vonn races for her second gold medal today. Vonn is considered a favorite in the super combined event, which pairs the break neck speed of the downhill with the turning technique of the slalom. Her first gold medal came despite a persistent and painful injury and a downhill course so challenging six skiers crashed.
From Whistler, British Columbia, NPR's Howard Berkes reports.
HOWARD BERKES: The 6,000 people filing into the Olympic downhill stadium yesterday were greeted by something extraordinary.
Unidentified Man: Good morning and welcome to Whistler Creekside, home for the ladies downhill.
BERKES: Well, no, it wasn't the guy in the lifeguard chair with a megaphone, it was the sunny slopes and the blue skies above him. No heavy rain, no heavy snow, no thick fog, no more delays. A perfect day for skiing the announcer said, and a promising day for Lindsey Vonn, the most hyped Olympian since Michael Phelps. Everybody knows her, right, especially the Americans here?
Ms. SOPHIA SIEGEL: I don't exactly know who she is.
BERKES: Forgive Sophia Siegel of San Francisco - she's only seven after all -and she's about to learn a lot.
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BERKES: Lindsey Vonn exploded from the gate as she started the race she's anticipated for years. She failed to medal in the last two Olympics, but has dominated the world cup circuit, winning more races than anyone. Two weeks ago, a severely bruised shin was so painful she suggested she might not ski these Olympics. Weather delays gave her time to heal, but this run was still painful, she said later, with a bumpy surface hammering her boot into the bruise.
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BERKES: Vonn pumped her arms in the air at the finish.
Ms. LINDSEY VONN (U.S. Skier): Well, when I made it through that last jump, I just was thinking, I hope I did it, I hope I did it. And then when I crossed the finish line, I was just, I saw my name, number one and I was completely overwhelmed. I just collapsed and it was one of the best feelings I ever had.
BERKES: Vonn's husband, Thomas, told reporters the adrenaline of the Olympics helped his wife ski through the pain, along with some lidocaine.
Lindsey described the run and the pain this way:
Ms. VONN: This is probably the bumpiest course that I've ever run and I think that's the worst thing that you can have for a shin injury, so... But I was focused and determined and just tried not to think about it. But it's all over now. I finished, I won and I'm really happy.
BERKES: The course is known as one of the toughest in the world and six of the racers crashed, including Anja Paerson of Sweden, a five-time Olympic medalist.
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BERKES: Paerson seemed to launch off the last jump, flew through the air and landed hard on the snow, gliding face first through the finish. Romanian Edith Miklos crashed through retaining fences and was airlifted to a hospital.
The skiers did not seem alarmed by this. Stacey Cook of the United States crashed on the course, herself, last week during training.
Ms. STACEY COOK (U.S. Downhill Skier): It's a tough course and it's Olympics and people are going for it. It's a great quality course. It's just really tough - it's pushing our limits - and then we're pushing our own limits on top of that.
BERKES: Still, course officials decided to shave down the icy ridge that launches skiers into the last jump, perhaps with last week's fatal luge accident in mind. They have until this morning to get that done, because Lindsey Vonn and other skiers are due back at the course for the downhill portion of the super combined event.
Before she left the downhill yesterday, Vonn and silver medalist and teammate Julia Mancuso made 10-year-old Sarah Ellis of Los Angeles very excited.
Ms. SARAH ELLIS: I got my ski helmet signed by Lindsey Vonn and Julia. Lindsey placed first in women's downhill and Julia got second.
BERKES: And Ellis held out the purple helmet with scrawled signatures, a souvenir of a day and skiers she'll likely never forget.
Howard Berkes, NPR News, Whistler.
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