Mancuso tries to downplay rift with Vonn

WHISTLER, British Columbia - Lindsey Vonn's last chance for a medal at these Olympics is Friday, when she is expected to race the slalom despite injuring herself in a crash on Wednesday that knocked her out of the giant slalom.

Her teammate Julia Mancuso's last chance for a medal was in the giant slalom, but she finished eighth Thursday, largely because her first run Wednesday was interrupted mid-mountain so that Vonn, who had skied just ahead of her, could be attended to after her crash.

Mancuso's second try at the first run yielded only an 18th- place finish, and though she was third fastest Thursday, her combined time didn't threaten to put her on the podium for an event that she won gold at Turin in 2006.

"I felt I was able to put down a really good second run today," Mancuso said. "It just wasn't enough . . . I was pretty close, but I guess I'll wait for another four years."

Mancuso is planning to skip today's slalom, so she closes out these games with a pair of silver medals. She was frustrated by Vonn's situation on Wednesday and earlier this week was quoted by SI.com as saying, "People are having a hard time reaching their potential because it's such a struggle for attention. You come to meetings after races and it's like it's a bad day if Lindsey didn't do well."

Asked about it later, Vonn said: "I try to support Julia as much as I support all the other teammates. I've been racing with Julia since I was a little kid, and yes, we're competitors, but I always support her and it definitely has hurt me that she said some negative things about me, and all I can do is continue to support her like I always have been and hope that she reciprocates that."

Mancuso Thursday said the state of her relationship with Vonn has "been taken a little out of proportion."

Mancuso sought to diffuse the situation, saying: "The way that it came across, that it was a media-attention fight or something like that, is just ridiculous."

After coming into the Games with a badly bruised shin, Vonn has won gold in the downhill and bronze in the super-G here with the aid of painkillers and numbing cream. In the crash on Wednesday she broke her right pinkie.

Thomas Vonn, Lindsey's husband, said his wife will race Friday wearing a hard-plastic brace. Thomas Vonn told The Associated Press she tested the injured finger in a series of training runs Thursday. She will wear a mitten over the brace, instead of a racing glove.