Lindsey Vonn Slams Unsafe Skiing Conditions at World Cup Race Via Facebook

Olympic champion Lindsey Vonn has slammed ski organizers in Germany, posting a scathing review of unsafe conditions at a World Championship event in a small Bavarian mountain resort on her Facebook wall.

Vonn, the most successful American female in ski racing history, said she was "shocked and disappointed" at the icy conditions at the FIS World Cup race in Arber-Zwiesel, and she questioned whether the sport's governing body had any concern for athletes' safety.

Vonn, who was honored as the United States Olympic Committee's sportswoman of the year for 2010, called the hill a "bumpy ice rink" and predicted crashes throughout the rest of the competition if conditions do not improve.

Ironically, the top story on the FIS (International Ski Federation) website this morning is a good-PR news story about the research work the organization is doing with the University of Salzburg to improve racing conditions.

Snow conditions were identified as one of the five main injury risk factors, according to a panel of 63 World Cup experts involved with the Injury Surveillance System project.

Three-time World Champion Vonn, who did not race in Sunday's slalom event after a scary wipeout in the giant slalom in Hinterit, Austria, on Saturday, said the problems in Zwiesel were not a result of mother nature, but rather poor preparation from the tournament organizers.

"I have something I need to say. I am not trying to complain or be negative, but I feel strongly that this is an important safety issue that needs to be brought up.

"It is something that's on everyone's mind but everyone is afraid to bring it up. I just finished free skiing the World champs super G race hill and I was shocked and disappointed at the condition of the hill. The hill is extremely bumpy pond ice from top to bottom.

"It has clearly been injected or hosed down with a ton of water. I have never seen a course prepared like this in my entire career, nothing even close. In my opinion the hill is WAY too icy and downright unsafe!

"I find it very hard to believe that the FIS has any concern for the safety of the athletes when the World Championships race hill is prepared like a bumpy ice rink. I fear there will be a lot of DNF's and crashes in the coming days."

Vonn is absolutely right to bring up the issue of unsafe conditions, and I applaud her for raising the topic and asking the questions. I don't think her social networking site was the most efficient way to go about things, but at least it is now in the public domain and hopefully things will be sorted out on the hills.

Vonn is one of the most talented racers out there, and if she says conditions are unsafe, then you must know that they're bad. For her to say something like this, the slick mountain must be in terrible shape.

The racers often know best about these kinds of things. Let's just hope those organizers above her pay attention.