Lindsey Vonn Injured After Serious Crash

Lindsey Vonn was airlifted off the mountain after a serious crash at the World Alpine Championships in Austria.

Lindsey Vonn was involved in a serious crash at the first day of the Alpine Skiing World Championships in Schladming, Austria. Vonn was airlifted from the Super G course after receiving medical treatment for about 12 minutes, having appeared to have injured her knee, according to the Associated Press. After landing from a jump, Vonn lost balance on her right leg, causing her ski to eject and sending the four time overall World Cup champion sliding off course and into a gate.

Lindsey Vonn had just returned to the racing circuit in January after taking the month of December off to fully recover from her instestinal illness that hospitalized her in November.

With the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia almost exactly one year from now, many will wonder how Vonn's injuries could impact the storyline heading into the 2014 games. The Austrian ski federation president said doctors told him that Vonn tore her cruciate and lateral ligaments and Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports reports that she sustained tears to the anterior collateral (ACL) and medial collateral ligaments (MCL).

The following video shows the brutal crash from earlier this morning, where her right knee seems to bend awkwardly after landing: